


Heavenly Vengeance

by TheEndOfTheUniverse



Category: Fairy Tail
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon-Typical Violence, Gen, Illusions, Mind Control
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-08
Updated: 2016-08-14
Packaged: 2018-04-30 16:36:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 17
Words: 41,127
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5171411
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheEndOfTheUniverse/pseuds/TheEndOfTheUniverse
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Set a little bit after Oracion Seis. Team Natsu takes a mission to wipe out a dark assassin's guild, Fatal Falcon. But when one of the mages takes a special interest in Gray, how will the rest of them deal with the consequences? Cross posted from FFN.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Job

“Natsu! When are we going to go on a job?” Lucy whined as she rested her head on the table. Mirajane gave a sympathetic smile as she poured Lucy a glass of water. Natsu and Happy had been lingering around the request board for over an hour, unable to decide on a mission to take. Erza was due back any time now and Gray would be coming to the guild soon too. Lucy wanted to have a mission picked before they got there. Just when she was about to storm over there herself, Natsu’s cheerful face popped up.

                “Hey, Lucy! Let’s go on this one!” he suggested, waving the flyer in her face. Lucy pouted and snatched it out of his hand. The mission seemed simple enough, and it wasn’t anything that they were new to: defeating a dark assassin’s guild named Fatal Falcon. Lucy sweat dropped. Of course Natsu picked a job that was nothing but destruction. Well at least this time, the town couldn’t really fine them if they broke things...right? It was a well paying job too. Lucy sighed. What could possibly go wrong? She felt herself nod and watched as Natsu and Happy cheered.

 

                Gray walked into the guild to find Happy and Natsu grinning from ear to ear and Lucy standing awkwardly to the side. He raised an eyebrow at the piece of paper in Lucy’s hand. Was that a job request? He made his way up to them.

                “Yo, Lucy, Happy, Flame Brain,” he greeted. A tick mark immediately appeared on Natsu’s forehead and he stomped his way over to the raven.

                “What was that, Popsicle? You want to fight?” the Dragon Slayer shouted as he got into stance. Gray grinned as he took his stance as well.

                “Bring it on, Fire Breath!” The two began their brawl in the middle of the guild. Lucy laughed nervously as she backed away to safe distance. She didn’t want to get caught up in that.

 

                Natsu was about to land a hit on Gray when a metal fist came down on his head. He yelped in pain as he turned around only to freeze. _Shit, it’s Erza._ The scarlet turned to her two younger brother figures.

                “Why are you two fighting?” she demanded. Gray squeaked and Natsu was quick to follow suit. The two moved so that they kneeled obediently in front of her.

                “I-It was just a friendly scuffle. R-Right Natsu?” The pink haired mage nodded and Erza stepped back.

                “Good. Friends should not fight. Am I understood?” Erza asked. The two boys nodded vigorously and slung their arms around each other’s shoulders.

                “A-Aye sir...”

 

                Erza made her way to Lucy and Happy, who had been standing a ways off. The two greeted Erza and showed her the job request. Sharp brown eyes scanned the page. After a brief moment, Erza smiled.

                “It sounds like a good mission. I’m ready to go whenever you are.” Mirajane turned from the counter.

                “So soon, Erza? You just got back,” she said. Erza waved off the concern.

                “It’s no problem. I had a lot of time to rest during the trip back,” she assured. She turned around to the two boys still sitting on the floor glaring at each other. “Natsu! Gray!” she shouted. The two’s backs straightened as they slowly turned back to look at the female knight. “Get packed, we’re going on a mission! Meet at the train station in half an hour!” she ordered as she herself walked out of the guild.

               

                Thirty minutes later, they were on the train and o

* * *

n their way to the mission. Natsu was moaning and groaning in his seat as usual, his face absolutely pallid. Lucy edged away from the dragon slayer as to not get vomit on her skirt. Gray and Erza watched with frowns on their faces. The train ride would be approximately two hours. They did _not_ want to deal with a motion sick Natsu for that long. Erza swapped spots with Lucy as she proceeded to punch the slobbering mess in the stomach, promptly knocking him out. Gray and Lucy both looked the out the window watching the colours of autumn go by, as if not noticing what had just happened.

 

                It seemed like forever, but the team of mages finally arrived at their destination. Their resident Dragon Slayer was the first one off the train and jumped for joy.

                “I love the ground!” he screamed as Happy chimed in with an enthusiastic,

                “Aye, sir!” Lucy rolled her eyes playfully as Erza dragged her cart of luggage and Gray followed closely behind.

                “We’re going to leave you behind if you don’t get a move on!” Gray yelled at the two. They quickly caught up and began to chat with the others about pointless things.

 

                Team Natsu arrived at their hotel and checked into their rooms. Natsu would be rooming with Gray and Erza with Lucy. Happy would stay in Natsu’s room, as usual. As they were unpacking, details of the request flew through their minds. The mission wasn’t S-class so it couldn’t be too challenging. All they had to do was kick a couple of people’s butts, right? When they were all settled, they set off for the town hall to speak with the mayor.

 

* * *

 

                “Fairy Tail. I’m glad you came. That damned guild has been killing people since the beginning of this year! Please, you have to help us!” Erza nodded, deep in thought. She looked up at the mayor.

                “Does the guild have any distinguishing features? What is their guild symbol design?” The mayor placed a hand to his chin. Gray and Natsu watched closely as Happy floated in the air next to his pink haired friend. Lucy stood next to Erza and listened carefully to every word the mayor spoke. The man apologised.

                “I’m sorry, Fairy Tail. I don’t think I’ve ever seen one.” The celestial mage stepped forward, arms spread out in front of her imploringly.

                “Please sir, think harder. We need any information that we can get.” The mayor frowned and bowed his head.

                “I’m sorry. I really don’t know. You can try asking the townspeople. They may know,” he suggested. They all sighed. It would’ve been easier had the mayor known more. But that was fine. They could just ask around like he suggested. The mages thanked the mayor for his time and made their way outside.

 

                “Natsu, Happy, you head north. Gray will head west. Lucy will head east and I will head south. Convene back at the hotel in three hours,” Erza ordered. They all nodded before setting off in their respective directions.

 

* * *

 

                After two and a half hours, Gray trekked down the path in town. So far, none of the people that he had spoken to had known much about Fatal Falcon. The raven sighed. How could a town ask for them to get rid of a dark guild but not know anything about said dark guild? Just when Gray was about to turn and start heading back, he heard something come from his left.

“Come...” a voice whispered. He whipped his head around.

                “Who’s there?” he demanded. He whirled around several times. But there was no one there. He frowned. He knew he had heard that voice. He made his way to the door of the house directly left of him.

                He knocked on the door, only for it to open easily. Not to mention ominously. Gray slowly peeked through the door. The room was dark. It didn’t seem like there was anyone there. Yet Gray was sure that he had heard something. He was about to venture further into the room when the door swung fully open and clattered against the wall. Gray shivered. This was seriously creepy. He turned to leave when he felt himself step on something. He frowned and bent down to pick it up. He was sure that it wasn’t there when he had entered. Turns out it was only a piece of paper. But when he turned it over, something peculiar greeted him. Inscribed on the sheet was a single symbol. It seemed like two F’s connected to each other, arranged in such a way that it appeared as if the picture had wings and a head. Gray raised an eyebrow as he closed the door behind him and started to head back to the hotel, leaving the room in total darkness.


	2. Enemies Within Our Ranks?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The team returns from their search for information. But Gray is acting a little strangely...

“You’re back, Frostbite,” Natsu greeted grumpily. He hadn’t had any luck with anyone he had met that afternoon. The girls weren’t back yet, and so he had decided to just lounge around on the couch with Happy when Gray had returned. His nose twitched when he detected a foreign smell. He scrutinized Gray when he caught sight of the sheet of paper at his side.

“What’s that?” Natsu asked, eyeing the sheet of paper in his friend’s hand warily. He sniffed it again cautiously and immediately recoiled at the foul stench it exuded. What the hell was that sheet and why did it reek of death? He turned to his best friend.

                “Where did you get that?” he growled. Gray and Happy looked at the Dragon Slayer in confusion. What had gotten into him so suddenly?

                “It was stuck to my foot when I stepped into a room. I think it might be the guild’s symbol. After all, if you think about it, it kind of looks like two F’s. And the guild’s name is Fatal Falcon,” Gray reasoned. But that didn’t lessen Natsu’s glare. In the blink of an eye, the paper was on fire. Gray yelped as he threw it to the ground and stomped on it in an attempt to put out the flames.

                “What the fuck, Natsu?! This is our only clue!” he screamed. But Natsu’s stony glare didn’t falter in the slightest. He snarled as his pupils dilated, giving his eyes a reptilian look.

                “That sheet of paper reeks of death, Gray.  You should get rid of it.” Gray gave a pointed glare of his own as he finally put out the flames.

                “We’ll give the clue to Erza and see what she thinks of it.”

 

                “Give what to me?” Erza asked as she walked through the door, Lucy behind her. Gray tore his gaze away from his friend glaring at him on the couch and simply handed the paper over to her. The scarlet haired wizard eyed the sheet carefully.

                “The guild’s symbol, I take it?” she confirmed. Gray nodded and then rubbed his eyes. That was strange. He had been fine all day. Why was his vision so blurry all of a sudden? Lucy peeked over the armoured shoulder and studied the design.

                “Definitely looks like it. Nice job, Gray!” Lucy exclaimed as she clapped him on the back. Gray smiled and excused himself from the room. The room was starting to spin. He needed to lie down for a while.

 

* * *

 

                Natsu watched Gray go. Black eyes narrowed as he forced himself to tear his gaze away from his rival. Why was he getting so concerned? Gray could take care of himself. He turned back to the girls. They were busy ordering dinner for all of them. He sighed. Gray would come out for dinner.

 

                It turned out that Natsu was wrong. Even well after the food had arrived, Gray still had not come out of his room. He caught Erza, Happy and Lucy’s concerned looks too. He got up from the table and knocked on the door, gently. Yes, he, Natsu Dragneel, _knocked_ on the door _gently_.

                “Gray? The food’s here. You should come out.” When he wasn’t met with a response, his concerns immediately skyrocketed. He started banging on the door. “Gray?” he asked, letting his concern seep into his voice. When he still didn’t hear anything, he got fed up. Clenching his fists, he broke the door down. What he found was more than surprising. The ice mage was indeed alright, but there was a wild look in his eyes, as if he was being attacked. The theory was only proven more when Natsu found Gray’s hands in their signature Ice Make position. Before Natsu could utter a single syllable, the attack sprouted forth.

                “Ice Make: Lance!” Gray declared as the frozen weapon burst forth in several directions. Natsu growled and dodged the attack. His eyes narrowed. The hostility that exuded from Gray was surprising. Gray and Natsu had sparred more than a couple of times, but Gray was _never_ hostile about it. Before Natsu could ask what was going on, Gray beat him to it.

                “Who are you? What have you done with Erza, Natsu and Lucy?” Natsu straightened, confused. What the hell was Gray talking about?

                “What are you going on about Ice Block? It’s me! Natsu!” he exclaimed. He was silenced when the temperature of the room dropped drastically. He saw Erza and Lucy at the door, with a sword in the former’s hand. Natsu quickly motioned for Erza to stand down, to which she reluctantly did.

                “You think I’m stupid?! I’ve never seen you before in my life! There’s no way you’re Natsu!” Gray shouted. Natsu scowled as he leapt forward and began to fight back. For a few minutes, the two were evenly matched. It was only when Gray hesitated for a second that Natsu promptly punched his rival in the gut before he could do anything about it.

                “Snap out of it, Frost Breath. It’s me,” was the last thing Gray heard before passing out and being caught in a warm embrace.

 

* * *

 

                A few minutes later, Gray woke up, his head in Lucy’s lap. A blush danced across his face as he pushed himself up. He rubbed the side of his head and was immediately aware of the stares from around the room. He met Erza’s gaze first. While he did see some concern, there was more confusion than anything else. He turned to Happy next. The poor Exceed seemed really worried and was standing next to him. Gray let slip a small smile as he petted the blue cat on the head reassuringly. Next, he turned back to Lucy. Warm brown eyes filled with concern bore into him. Just what had happened to him to warrant all this concern? Finally, he looked at Natsu. The dragon slayer was probably the hardest one to read in the group, which was ironic since Natsu was usually the one who wore his heart on his figurative sleeve. But one thing that clearly shone through Natsu’s expression was worry. Ok, he must’ve screwed up pretty badly if even _Natsu_ was worried about him.

                “So... what did I do?” he asked. Natsu’s brows furrowed as he came up to his rival.

                “Do you really not remember?” he asked back. The ice mage furrowed his eyebrows in turn. The last thing he remembered was falling asleep on the bed and attacking an intruder. The next thing he knew, he was in Lucy’s lap.

                “No?” he answered hesitantly. Sighing, Natsu sat down and began to recount what had happened a few minutes earlier. By the end of it, Gray was surprised, to say the least.

                “But... I wouldn’t do that,” he said as the gears in his head began to turn. He and Natsu had different recounts of the same event. How was this possible? Erza crossed her arms with a clank, snapping Gray out of his thoughts.

                “It’s possible that the enemy did something to you, Gray. Tell me, did you meet anyone strange today?” The raven shook his head. He hadn’t met anyone out of the ordinary on his walk today. But that room definitely was weird...

                “Actually... I went into this room and that’s where I found the paper with the symbol on it. It was kind of creepy. And I didn’t feel very well after I gave it to you...” he remembered. Two sets of eyes narrowed; one calculating brown and the other disturbed black. Gray didn’t like the looks they were giving him. He stood up and made his way towards the dinner table. He was starved. Besides, they needed to lighten the mood somehow. Slowly, the rest of them trickled in and joined him at the table. But the meal passed in silence.

 

* * *

 

                The next day, Lucy was the first one to wake up. She stretched and made her way towards the bathroom to brush her hair and teeth. When she was finished, she changed and made her way to the kitchen. The others still hadn’t woken up yet, which was rare, but after what happened yesterday, Lucy didn’t really blame them. Especially Gray. He had a different memory of what happened and that worried everyone. After all, there was no way that Gray wouldn’t have recognised his best friend and rival. There was definitely something else at work here. She had just rounded the corner when she saw the flames. She did the first thing that came to mind. She screamed.


	3. Fatal Falcon and Matilda Mueller

Obsidian eyes snapped open when their owner heard a scream come from the kitchen. Within seconds, Natsu was up and running towards the source of the scream, Erza, Gray and Happy all following closely behind. Natsu found Lucy staring and pointing at a spot of the table where flames were coming from. His eyes narrowed. For one, the flames were dark purple. He’d come across some weird coloured fire in the past, but a purple dark enough to almost become black? Never.  Secondly, they stayed perfectly in a rectangular shape. And even stranger, the flames didn’t seem to grow. It took Natsu a second to realise what exactly was burning and when he did, he did nothing to stop the flames. Lucy gawked and tugged on Natsu’s arm.

                “Natsu! What are you doing? Why aren’t you putting out the fire?!” Natsu snarled in the direction of the fire.

                “I’d rather have that stupid piece of paper burn,” he said simply. Gray stayed back and held Erza back as well, to keep from pummeling Natsu for not saving their clue. Eventually, the fire began to die out by itself, which puzzled the mages even more. What the hell was going on? Then, as if being controlled, the flames morphed themselves into words. Eyebrows rose in surprise before the looks on the mages’ faces turned to pure and utter hatred.

 

                _If it’s a fight you want, come to the heart of the forest just west of this city. We’ll destroy you pathetic fairies._

 

* * *

 

                The mages trudged down the worn path in the forest, dark scowls on their faces, save for Lucy, who wasn’t exactly capable of mustering a dark scowl. But she still felt the same anger and rage that her comrades did. No one insulted Fairy Tail and got away with it! As they walked along the path, Natsu noticed that the smell of death growing stronger and stronger. He frowned. That meant that they were getting closer. But somehow the nagging feeling that something was going to go wrong bothered him the entire time.

 

They arrived quickly at their destination. What greeted them was to be expected: a giant army. The mages sighed. Were dark assassin’s guilds never creative? They sighed as they all took their battles stances.

“Natsu, Lucy, Gray. Take these ones out. I will try to find the master,” Erza said as she requipped into her Heaven’s Wheel armour and took off. Some of the foolish ones tried to go after her, only to find themselves getting some quality time with one of her magic swords. The rest of them seemed to get the message and focused their attention back on the other three Fairy Tail mages. Just when they were about to charge, the flanks opened up to make an aisle as a single woman strode forward. Light green locks bounced as she came to a stop. Gray surveyed her. She dressed akin to the rest of the foot soldiers, in a purple robe over dark clothes of their own choice, but her violet shirt and black jeans were emblazoned with the same symbol that Gray had found in the room. His eyes narrowed. Judging from how she carried herself and how the others seemed to be in fear of her, he would say that she was the second or third in command maybe. Lavender eyes scanned the group carefully. Her gaze stayed particularly longer on the Dragon Slayer, a look of distaste on her features. Natsu growled but her attention was soon redirected to her next opponent. When she was finished scanning the group, she pointed a finger at Gray, an expression of pure loathing on her face.  The ice mage raised an eyebrow. What was she pointing at him for? And why was she glaring at him so hatefully?

“You…!” she shouted as she charged forward. Gray barely had any time to back up when her first kick caught him in his side. He cursed as he quickly grabbed onto her leg and using his momentum, threw her towards a tree with all his might. Unfortunately, the mage turned in mid-air and landed perfectly on the side of the tree. Upon landing, she immediately pushed off of the tree towards Gray. The raven scowled as he created two swords of ice and charged to meet his opponent.

 

The two clashed for some time before Lucy decided to intervene since the giant army didn’t seem like it was going to charge without an order of some sort.

“Gray!” Lucy called from behind him. She rushed forward, hands on her keys when the enemy scowled and back flipped away from her previous position in front of Gray.

“It’s not fun if you bother us while we’re fighting you brat.” Lucy’s eyebrow twitched. Did she just call her a brat? “And from the look of pinky over there, he wants to fight too,” she continued. “But you two aren’t going to interrupt. Burning Coliseum!” she exclaimed as she pressed her palms to the ground. Immediately, a ring of dark purple fire rose from around Gray and the green haired mage. Gray turned around, looking for any opening in the wall of flames. His opponent laughed and he turned back to face her, a scowl on his face.

“It’s pointless. You can’t escape Burning Coliseum. No one goes in and no one gets out without my say so. You’d better fight well and entertain the second in command of Fatal Falcon, ice mage!”

* * *

 

“Gray!” Natsu called out. His best friend wasn’t answering his calls. He needed to know if Gray was alright, damn it! He took in a deep breath and tried to suck in the flames in. In the back of his mind, he was kind of curious to see what these flames tasted like. As soon as the first flicker of flame touched his taste buds, he immediately spat it back out. There was no way he was eating that! Lucy and Happy looked on with concern. The dragon slayer wiped his mouth with his forearm.

“Those flames taste like shit!” he growled as he lit his fists on fire and turned to the giant army that had been more or less quiet up until this point. Without waiting a second longer, Natsu jumped right into the thick of them and began to fight. “I’m all fired up!” Lucy sighed.

“Happy, can you fly above the flames and check on Gray? He’s the only one we can’t see,” Lucy asked. The cat activated his magic and flew off, with a determined,

“Aye, sir!” Entrusting that task to the Exceed, she turned back to her part of the giant army. Taking a deep breath, she pulled a key from her pouch.

“Open Gate of the Bull!” she said as she swiped the golden key. Taurus both appeared out of a magic circle as began to flirt with the celestial mage.

“Lucy-san as usual you have a nice body!” Taurus fawned. Lucy sweat dropped. Seriously? The enemy wasn’t going to take her seriously like this! As expected, their opponents laughed.

“What does this little girl think she’s doing? Does she seriously think that that pathetic spirit can beat us?” one of them scoffed. _That_ ticked the Bull off. Taurus turned to the army.

 “These are the ones who have insulted Lucy-san’s nice body?” he asked. Lucy nodded in confirmation. Taurus grinned as he charged forward with a fierce battle cry, swinging his giant axe.

 

* * *

 

Erza on the other hand, had located the master and was currently locked in combat with him. But something felt off. This man’s magical power wasn’t high, nor was his physical ability. Was the really the master of such a feared guild? Her eyes narrowed as she requipped into her Black Wing Armour. She would end this soon.

 

* * *

 

Natsu threw a flaming punch and watched in satisfaction as the last mage on his side went down for the count. He smirked.

“All right! Who’s up next?” he challenged. Suddenly, the space in front of him seemed to warp and swirl. His eyes narrowed. From the swirl, someone stepped forward. Natsu’s eyebrows rose. Was that swirl a portal? The man in front of him dusted himself off. He didn’t seem to be much to scoff at but he didn’t seem like he was weak either. His orange hair billowed in the wind as ice blue eyes analyzed him. He chuckled at the rosette in front of him, irritating the boy.

“What are you laughing at, bastard? I’m going to kick your ass to Magnolia and back!” Natsu threatened. The man laughed.

“Oh? A fairy threatening a falcon? That’s rich. By the time I’m done with you, you’ll be nothing but pixie dust!”

* * *

 

Gray jumped back to avoid another attack. So far the mage in front of him had only used fire based spells. Did that mean that she was solely a fire mage? No, he shouldn’t dismiss the possibility of her knowing another type of magic. His opponent seemed to notice his attempt at reading her and threw her head back and laughed.

“This is amusing. You’re trying to figure out if I’m only a fire mage. And if I am, why am I the second in command?” she accused. Gray scowled. She read him like an open book. Lavender eyes turned back to him. “If you’re so curious, I’ll show you. But not many people have survived this attack...” she said as she inhaled deeply, much like a certain member on Gray’s team when he unleashed a certain spell.

“N-No way... You’re a Slayer?” Gray asked, dumbfounded. A smirk made its way to her face before she let loose a blanket of purple flames from her mouth.

“Fire Angel’s Howl!”

“Aaah!”

* * *

 

“Watch out!” Natsu yelled. Lucy whipped around fast enough to see the incoming attack from Natsu’s opponent and leaped out of the way. Natsu watched in relief. Good, Lucy was safe. Erza was still off somewhere fighting the master.  Lucy was busy finishing off the last of the underlings. Gray on the other hand, was still busy fighting that green haired woman. Natsu scowled.  His nagging feeling from before still hadn’t gone away. Combined with the fact that he couldn’t see Gray, it made Natsu extremely anxious. He needed to check up on the ice mage. He called up to the Exceed flying above the obstacle keeping him from his friend.

“Happy! How’s Gray?” he hollered. Happy’s ears perked as he yelled back to his friend.

“Not good! He just got hit by a really strong attack! But he’s getting back up!” Natsu growled. Even if Gray had a handle on his opponent, which he still had his doubts about, he still wanted to see the ice mage’s condition for himself. But to do that, he would have to finish off the asshole in front of him first.

* * *

 

Gray panted as he wiped away some of the blood on his face. He hadn’t seen that coming. He turned back to the angel slayer and scowled. He could now see why she was the second in command. She was definitely strong; even her basic fire spells probably caused thousands of jewels in damage, even more so after she began using her Angel Slayer magic, and she was agile and cunning; just what a mage from a dark guild should be. He scowled as he dodged another Howl. He needed to end this quickly.

                “Ice Make: Lance!” The frozen projectiles advanced quickly towards their target. The woman scoffed as she jumped up and avoided the hits only to find a giant icy hammer crashing down on her. Before she could react, an icy prison appeared as well. She grinned as she unleashed yet another Howl and easily melted the prison, but not before Gray landed another hit with his Ice Make: Lance. She emerged from the steam cloud formed by the attacks, scowling as she spit the dirt from her mouth. A magic circle appeared from her hand and not a second later, a fiery blast erupted from her palm.

“Fire Angel’s Burst!” she yelled. Gray jumped to the right and. His eyes narrowed. This spell wasn’t much different from another fire spell that she had used earlier, but this one was clearly more powerful, maybe by five times. This was going to be a lot trickier than he originally thought. The green haired mage laughed as she jumped back and brought her hands out in front of her and placed them diagonally on top of each other, like Gray did with his Ice Make: Lance. A purple magic circle appeared, spinning in front of her palms. Gray’s eyes narrowed. He didn’t recognise that circle. With her earlier attacks, he could at least guess what was going to happen; this circle gave no such indication. But from the intense magical pressure around them, he figured it was a pretty powerful spell. Even the flames of the Burning Coliseum around them died down enough that he could see the rest of his team. He scowled. Before he could warn them of the impending spell, the magic circle around the fire mage’s hands glowed with power.

“Fire Angel’s Heavenly Judgement!” Violet flames in the shape of swords and spears emerged from the circle and flew in a torrent towards the weakened ice mage.

                “Ice Make: Shield!” By chance, the first one missed him and he saw just how terrifying that spell was. The area where the spear shaped flame had hit looked like it had been caught in a small explosion. Gray frowned. So the flames exploded on impact... that was good to know.

* * *

 

The amount of weapons that materialised was incredible; almost incredible enough that Gray’s shield wasn’t enough. In fact, his shield was breaking apart bit by bit as the onslaught continued. He growled as he forced more of his magic out. There was no way he could let his friends get hurt by this attack! He vaguely registered his name being called out in concern in the background but paid it no heed. There was something more important than whatever the voices needed right now. Finally, the seemingly endless attack ceased. Gray collapsed on one knee. He had used way too much magic holding up that shield and the damage he had sustained from that first Howl. But it was worth it. At least his comrades were safe. He looked up at his opponent. She had this ridiculous sneer on her face. The raven scowled as he rose from the ground. He vaguely heard mumbling from his enemy and felt a burning feeling at the left side of the base of his neck- maybe he got hit? - but ignored it. There were more important things right now. A tugging sensation in his gut warned him that he was pushing his limits. The fight had lasted too long already. Nevertheless, two ice swords appeared in his hands as he charged the enemy.

                “That’s impossible! You shouldn’t be able to move!” the woman shouted. But that didn’t stop Gray. He charged forward and brought the two swords in a crossing motion against her.

                “Ice Bringer!” The evil mage shrieked as she was encased in ice, which soon cracked and let her fall onto the cold floor. The defeated mage scowled, before breaking into maniac laughter.

“I admit... I underestimated you, ice mage. But that makes my plan all the better...” Erza, who had finished her battle with the master, stepped up and confronted the Angel Slayer.

                “What’s so funny?” she demanded. The woman stood shakily before pointing a finger to Gray, who was kneeling on the ground, panting heavily.

                “Foolish Titania, have you not noticed? One of your own is already mine,” she announced. At that moment, Gray decided to faint.

                “Gray!” the scarlet haired mage cried out in concern. Even Natsu turned back from his own battle to look back in worry. His opponent smirked and used this chance to hit him with a water attack. Natsu cursed and flew back. Straight into Lucy. She cried out in surprise as she was all but knocked down by a flying dragon slayer. Taurus turned back in concern for his master.

                “Lucy-san! Are you and your nice body ok?” he asked. Lucy slowly got up and rubbed her back.

                “Yeah... I’m ok. But what the heck, Natsu!” she complained.

                “Don’t look at me! It’s his fault!” Natsu’s opponent faked a smile and waved nicely. A tick mark appeared on both of their foreheads.

                “Why you little...” Natsu started as he made his way back over to him. Just as the man was about to retaliate, a look of understanding passed through his eyes when he made eye contact with the green haired mage in front of Erza and Gray. He shrugged in mock apology.

                “Sorry Salamander-kun. Seems I have to cut this meeting short. But at least remember the name of the mage who defeated you. I’m Steven Broderik. See you around, Fairy Tail.” Natsu growled as he charged the man in rage, only to end up punching empty space as the man seemed to all but disappear. Natsu extinguished his flames, kicked the dirt and shouted in frustration before looking up and making his way to Erza and Gray; with Lucy following suit after Taurus had finished wiping out the last of the army.

* * *

 

                The only enemy remaining struggled to stay upright. That last attack had done quite a number on her. She grinned maliciously at the team. She turned to Erza before declaring,

“My name is Matilda Mueller and I am the true master of Fatal Falcon. Remember that,” she declared before a magic circle appeared at her feet and she faded away into thin air.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Writing three battles at the same time is harddddd :(


	4. Magic Circle?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The aftermath of the battle.

“Gray! Gray! Get a hold of yourself!” Erza shouted as she shook the limp ice mage gently. But no matter what she did, the ice mage would not open his dark blue eyes. Erza cursed. What the hell had happened? Gray was by no means a weak mage, so how powerful was his opponent if she could reduce him to this state? She pulled him into a sitting position, her left arm supporting his waist. While she was trying to bring the ice mage back to consciousness, Natsu picked up on a strange scent. He sniffed around, trying to identify the source, when a pained mumble from Gray broke his concentration. He turned back to his rival and his eyes hardened. That Matilda was going down when he saw her next! Suddenly, Natsu’s eyes widened in surprise. What was that on Gray’s neck...? Before he could voice his thoughts, Erza picked Gray up, ready to bring him to the town for medical attention, only to have Happy float down and offer to carry him. The blue Exceed sagged under the dead weight of the ice mage but did not complain. He flew the unconscious mage into town and Erza requipped in her Flight Armour, following closely after. Lucy and Natsu arrived after they had tied up and arrested all the remaining members of Fatal Falcon.

 

* * *

 

                Erza had taken it upon herself to inform the mayor of the situation while Gray was given medical attention. Lucy, Natsu and Happy waited outside the doctor’s room. Ten minutes after Gray had been taken in, Erza arrived. Seeing the worried expressions on her teammates’ faces, she didn’t even bother asking how Gray was faring.

 

                Another twenty minutes after that, the doctor emerged from the room, taking his gloves off his hands. In an instant, he was all but jumped by the three Fairy Tail mages and the Exceed, all bombarding him with questions about their injured friend. The doctor slowly backed up, putting space in between them. He coughed and cleared his throat, unnerved by the… _enthusiasm_ , he was greeted with.

                “Your friend is alright. He sustained some burns to the body, some minor bruising and depleted his magic as well.” The doctor shook his head. “He was careless. In any case, he’s awake now. You’re free to visit him, if you wish,” the doctor said as he began to walk away. The three mages and cat piled into the room, eager to see their friend.

               

                They were happy to see their friend sitting up and rubbing his eyes tiredly. He eyed the bandages across his body and raised an eyebrow, only to be reprimanded by Erza to lie back down and rest. Shivering in fear of what would happen if he disobeyed, the raven obediently lied down.

                “How do you feel, Gray?” Happy asked. The person in question shrugged.

                “I feel fine, actually. Sure, I’m a little banged up, I don’t have much magic and I feel sore, but nothing too out of the ordinary,” he reported. Lucy sighed in relief and smiled.

                “That’s good to hear! That means we’ll be hunting down those last two mages in no time!” Erza coughed into her armoured fist, interrupting the blonde.

                “Actually Lucy, the mayor says that what we have done was fine. He has given us our reward and has asked that we leave soon.” Everyone raised an eyebrow at this. That was more than strange. Their mission wasn’t finished yet but the mayor wanted them to leave? Nevertheless, they couldn’t deny the mayor’s request. At that moment, the doctor returned.

                “How are you feeling, Gray-kun?” he asked as he closed the door behind him.  Gray turned his head to the side to face the man.

                “I’m ok. I feel a little sore, but that’s to be expected,” he informed. The doctor hummed in agreement.

                “Well, in that case, you’re free to go. I’ve bandaged you up as best as I can. The only reason we took so long was because we wanted to make sure that we didn’t miss anything. I’m no expert in magic but I do know that it’s rather unusual to have a mage faint from that extent of injuries.” He sighed. “You mages ought to know what’s wrong. Nevertheless, make sure you still take it easy for a couple of days,” he instructed. Erza nodded in agreement.

                “Don’t worry. We’ll make sure he does,” she all but threatened. Gray gulped. There was no way he was going to leave his bed for the next few days.

 

* * *

 

As expected, they didn’t start heading back to Magnolia until a few days had passed. Gray had insisted on being stubborn and had wanted to leave earlier, but due to the rest of his team’s insistence, he had stayed in bed for a while longer. The mayor had been apprehensive about it, which puzzled them considering that they had fulfilled the request, but had been more or less fine with it. Gray frowned at the memory but stretched and leaned back. He hadn’t felt the sun on his back or the cool autumn breeze for what seemed like years, even though it had only been days.

“Aah, it feels so good to be out of bed!” he said. Natsu scoffed.

“That’s what you get for getting hurt, Droopy Eyes.” Gray turned to glare at his rival.

“What was that, Slanty Eyes?”

“You heard me!”

“Enough!” Erza yelled. The two immediately stopped where they were, sweating nervously. Erza gave them both a death glare and they both shrank back. Lucy and Happy both sweat dropped, marveling at how they never learned from their mistakes. “Are you two ready to go back?” the redhead demanded. Both of them nodded as they began to walk down the road together, legs swinging up robotically as they faked their cheer. Erza smiled approvingly and Lucy and Happy both laughed. At least things were back to normal. But they didn’t notice Natsu staring at Gray’s neck, as they walked down the road.

 

* * *

 

“We’re back!” the team sang as they burst into the guildhall. They were greeted cheerfully by the rest of guild. The four smiled as they went off in their own separate directions, each greeting different people.

 

After a while, Mira came up to them.

“How was the mission?” she asked sweetly. Natsu scoffed.

“It wasn’t anything much! Frost Breath over here held us up for a few days though!” Gray glared.

“Shut up Ash for Brains! I heard from Lucy that you weren’t so hot either! How could you get hit by that stupid water attack?” he accused. Natsu growled.

“I only turned around because...” he trailed off as he scowled. He wouldn’t say it. He wouldn’t.  Gray noticed the change in Natsu’s demeanor but decided to push the matter nonetheless.

“Because what, Natsu?” he pressed. Natsu’s black eyes darted around, looking anywhere but into Gray’s deep blue ones. After a tense silence, Natsu finally gave in.

“Because I was worried about you damn it! I heard Erza from behind me and you just collapsed on the ground...” he muttered. Gray’s eyes softened.

“Sorry,” he said. Natsu sighed and slapped him upside the head.

“Idiot Snowflake,” he scolded.

 

* * *

 

Just then Makarov entered. He raised a hand in the air in greeting.

“So you brats are back!” he said cheerfully. The team grinned. Natsu suddenly adopted a serious expression.

“Jii-chan, I need to talk to you about something.” Almost collectively, the entire guild raised an eyebrow. What had made Natsu serious? Makarov coughed into his hand.

“Yes well, let’s go into the back then.”

 

“I wonder what Natsu is talking to the master about,” Lucy thought out loud. Gray and Erza shared a look. The raven shrugged.

“Whatever it is, it’s probably important. Natsu just doesn’t get serious like that without a good reason.” Erza nodded in agreement, eating a piece of strawberry cake that Mira had given to her a few minutes ago. They all sat down at the table, wondering what Natsu was worried about.

 

* * *

 

“So Natsu, what’s bothering you?” Makarov asked. Natsu’s eyes darted around nervously, watching in case someone was hiding and eavesdropping on what he was about to say. Makarov sighed. “Don’t worry. This room is sound proof and no one is here besides you and me. Now, what’s troubling you?” he repeated seriously. The dragon slayer sighed as he looked his grandfather figure in the eyes.

“Jii-chan... I think there’s something wrong with Gray.” The master of Fairy Tail looked taken back. There was something wrong with one of his brats? Natsu took a breath before he continued. “I can’t prove it to you since no one has said anything about it and Gray himself and doctor didn’t say anything about it, but there’s a magic circle on the base of his neck. I’ve never seen it before and I don’t know what it does.” Makarov held his chin in his hand.

“What does this magic circle look like?” Natsu frowned. He grabbed a piece of paper lying around in the room and recreated the magic circle to the best of his ability. It wasn’t amazing, but he got the gist of it. Makarov stared at the drawing.

“I don’t recognise this circle...” he said as he studied it. This circle was intricate, with a set of feathered wings in the centre. The middle ring of the circle looked jagged, in contrast to the rest of the circle, which looked fluid and gentle. The master of Fairy Tail looked troubled. “But it bothers me. Since I don’t know what it is, I think it’s safe to assume that it’s a Lost Magic of some sorts. Maybe you should bring Gray here so that we can get some more information about his opponent.” Natsu shook his head.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea. Gray probably doesn’t know it exists and I don’t want him to worry about it. It might not be anything serious,” he claimed as he began to walk out the door. Makarov nodded, respecting Natsu’s feelings and turned his back to the door, making a mental note to watch Gray for the next few days. He sighed. Hopefully Natsu was right and the magic circle was nothing to worry about. How naive they were at the time.

 

* * *

 

“Gray, what’s wrong?” Happy asked as he flew up to the raven. Gray was holding the base of his neck, an expression of discomfort on his face. He turned to the Exceed and forced a smile.

“It’s nothing, Happy. But I think I’m going to go home for today...” he said as he bade everyone farewell. Erza and Lucy offered to accompany him to his house, much to the chagrin of Juvia, but were both turned down. As he walked out of the guild, he didn’t notice two pairs of eyes watching him carefully, both of them filled with concern.


	5. Painful Touch

Night fell upon Magnolia. Gray fell into a fitful sleep. He tossed and turned on his bed. The moonlight shone through the window, reflecting off of him to reveal his sweaty figure. The raven mumbled and gasped in his sleep, his unseen terrors plaguing him.

 

_“How does it feel, Gray Fullbuster?” a woman asked, her tone laced with venom and contempt. Gray growled at her, not knowing what she meant by that. In return, the dream version of the Angel Slayer laughed. “So you still don’t know? Well, I guess there’s no harm in telling you, since there’s nothing you can do to stop it._ You _are going to be the main instrument in your own guild’s demise,” she declared. Gray’s jaw dropped in shock. He would never hurt his family! He tried to reach forward, to grab her and demand what she meant by that, but found that he was frozen in place. After the shock of being trapped by his own element passed, he continued to attempt to reach his tormentor. A flash of purple fire blinded him and the last thing she left him with was the sound of her mocking laughter._

Gray sat up forward quickly and ended up coughing harshly. When the fit subsided, he brought his hand to his neck again. Why the hell did his neck burn so much? And it wasn’t the same spot as yesterday either. The pain seemed to have spread, if that was possible. But Gray didn’t remember being hit specifically in that area. He hissed as a sudden spike of pain coursed through his body. What the hell had that Angel Slayer done to him?! He painfully eased himself off of his bed and began to get ready for the day.

 

* * *

 

Natsu and Happy arrived at the guild later than normal. Natsu had overslept, thanks to waking up in the middle of the night due to a nightmare. He had heard the voice of the green haired mage from their last mission, taunting him about the mark on Gray’s neck. Black eyes narrowed. Now he was positive that the magic circle was bad news, no matter how much he wanted to deny it. He ran to the guild, intent on finding the master. But instead, he found his best friend leaning on the side of the guild, a pained expression adorning his features. Immediately, Natsu remembered his nightmare and rushed to Gray’s side after telling Happy to go on by himself.

“Gray! What’s wrong?” Natsu exclaimed, quickly checking him over, looking for any source of injury. Black eyes widened in astonishment as they caught sight of the raven’s neck. He couldn’t get a word out edgewise though, since Gray grit his teeth and roughly pushed him away and leaned off of the wall.

“Leave me alone, Fire Breath. I’m fine,” he lied through clenched teeth. Natsu growled and slammed his fist into the wall next to Gray’s head.

“You are not fine, stripper. You wouldn’t have that look on your face if you were. So tell me, what’s wrong?” he repeated as calmly as possible. Gray simply turned his head to the side and said nothing. Natsu growled as he removed his fist and began to head into the guildhall. He would have to talk to the master about this.

 

* * *

 

Gray frowned as he rubbed his neck. The pain had grown when Natsu had arrived and subsided when he had left. Why was that? Not thinking on it any further, Gray made his way into the guildhall as well.

 

When he entered, he immediately noticed that Natsu wasn’t there. He raised an eyebrow but didn’t think any more of it. He didn’t care where Flame Brain went. He situated himself at one of the tables and folded his hands on the table. He then proceeded to hide his head in his arms and take a nap. He didn’t care that he just got there, he was too tired.

 

* * *

 

“In pain you say?” Makarov asked. He didn’t like the sound of this. It was extremely suspicious that Gray would be in pain, even after his burns had healed; even more so since Natsu had reported no other physical injury on the boy. Makarov furrowed his eyebrows. What was going on with Gray? It was then that Natsu chose to speak up.

“Jii-chan, remember that magic circle on Gray’s neck I told you about?” When Makarov nodded, Natsu continued. “Well, there was something different about it today.” At this, the master raised an eyebrow. Without waiting for a verbal go ahead, Natsu continued. “Yesterday it was just the circle, kind of like a stamp. Today, there were tendrils growing out of it.” Makarov furrowed his brow.

“Natsu, this is getting serious. We need to tell Gray about this. Can you bring him here?” The dragon slayer nodded before stepping out of the room and into the hall, to find the ice mage.

 

“Gray!” Natsu called as he searched for his friend. He soon found him asleep on one of the tables with Happy eating a fish next to him. Natsu raised an eyebrow. Gray didn’t normally sleep at the guild. He made his way over to the ice mage, noting out of the corner of his eye that Lucy and Erza had entered the guild. “Gray, wake up!” he said, shaking the raven. When the sleeping mage didn’t wake up, Natsu knew that there was something wrong. In a mild state of panic, he frantically called out for the ice mage again and again. By this time, the rest of the guild had made their way over to them, wondering what the fuss was about. It got to a point where Makarov himself had to come out. When he saw what was happening, he immediately ran to where the sleeping ice mage was.

“Anyone who isn’t Natsu, Erza, Lucy or Happy, leave!” he shouted. The crowd immediately dispersed but everyone was still watching carefully, a tense silence taking the place of the usual lively chatter of the guild. Makarov turned his attention back to Natsu, who was still trying to wake his rival up.

“Gray! Say something! Wake up! Gray!”

 

* * *

 

_Gray growled at the green haired mage in front of him. What was with her and his dreams? The woman raised an eyebrow._

_“You still don’t know my name, so I thought it only appropriate that I introduce myself,” she began as she curtsied in front of him. “My name is Matilda Mueller and I am the master of the dark assassin’s guild Fatal Falcon.” Gray crossed his arms._

_“Erza took out the master of your guild. You’re lying,” he said. Matilda threw her head back and laughed. It unnerved Gray a little, but he tried not to let it show._

_“You fool. Don’t believe everything someone tells you. That man was nowhere near my power level. He was simply a stand in to fool you fairies into a false sense of security. And it worked splendidly, did it not?” she asked him. Gray scowled. Matilda laughed. “Well, that was all I had to say for today. Ta-ta Gray, I hope you like the little gift that I left you with,” she said as she turned her back on him._

_“Wait what do you mean by that?” he screamed as his vision faded to white._

* * *

 

“Gray!” Natsu screamed as the ice mage jolted awake. In the commotion and panic of Gray’s awakening, Natsu’s hand accidentally brushed over the base of Gray’s neck where the magic circle was located. Immediately, Gray hissed in pain, fell back and his hand rose up to cover the area. Natsu immediately recoiled in surprise and could only stare as Gray grit his teeth in pain. Makarov walked up the ice mage.

“Gray, are you alright?”The raven did not answer and instead took deep breaths, trying to calm himself down. Slowly, he nodded. Makarov looked skeptical, but accepted the answer anyway. “Gray, Natsu and I need to speak with you in my office. Can you stand?” Hesitantly, Gray pushed himself up. He swayed on the spot a bit, only to have Erza steady him, careful not to come into contact with the base of his neck. From there, Natsu followed Gray carefully, always ready in case Gray collapsed again. The heavy silence hung in the guild as all eyes watched their ice mage as well, silently wondering what was wrong with him. Thankfully, at least for Gray, he made it to the master’s office just fine. Natsu shot a glare at everyone in the room before closing the door with a soft click. Lucy looked at Happy with an expression of pure confusion.

“What just happened?”

 

* * *

 

Gray leaned against the wall as he ran his hand through his messy raven locks. What was wrong with him? Natsu and Makarov stood facing him, both scrutinizing him in every possible aspect. Or at least that’s what it looked like the Gray. Blinking the exhaustion out of his eyes, he tried to appear as normal as possible.

“So what did you need me for, jii-san?” he asked. Makarov opened his mouth to speak but Natsu beat him to it.

“Gray, there’s something wrong with you!” he exclaimed.

“Yeah, thanks Flame Brain. I kind of noticed,” he remarked sarcastically. A tick mark appeared on Natsu’s forehead. Here he was being a good friend and Gray had to sass him!

“Why I ought to-,” he began as he was pushed back by Makarov. Natsu immediately stood down and let the master speak.

“Gray, we have reason to believe that you’ve been branded with a magic circle. We need to know. Who did you fight on your last mission?” he asked. Gray crossed his arms.

“Matilda Mueller, apparently. She’s the master of Fatal Falcon. The guy Erza took down was just a phony.” Makarov nodded.

“Yes, we’ve suspected as much. What kind of magic did this Matilda use?” At this, Gray hesitated a bit. He bit his lip as he looked down. This piqued Natsu’s curiosity.

“Frost Breath?” he asked carefully. The raven closed his eyes and lifted his head to meet the gaze of the master.

“She used Fire Magic at first. But she’s primarily the Fire Angel Slayer.”

 

* * *

 

Makarov gasped. Angel Slaying Magic? That was supposed to be a myth! Yet here was one of his children, claiming to have fought one. And a Fire Angel Slayer at that! The old man rubbed his forehead tiredly.

“Gray, child. Do you have any idea what an Angel Slayer is?” he asked. Gray shook his head. He had only ever heard of God or Dragon Slayers. But following that trend, he supposed that Angel Slayers weren’t all that unexpected. Natsu turned to the master.

“Jii-chan, do you know what they are?” Makarov let out a heavy sigh as he racked his brain for any knowledge on the topic.

“I can’t tell you much, considering it’s a type of Lost Magic. But it is very similar to your own, Natsu, in the fact that it gives the user attributes of the ‘creature’. Angel Slayers are extremely rare, rarer than God and Dragon Slayers, and no one has seen one in centuries. They were said in legends to be the strongest type of Slayer and were almost completely eradicated out of jealousy of other mages.”

 

Natsu’s eyes narrowed. The strongest type of Slayer? He would show that Angel Slayer who was really the most powerful! Gray sighed. Of course he had to get stuck with this shit. As if sensing his displeasure, the magic circle on his neck glowed with power. However the only one who could see it was Natsu, who immediately gasped. The tendrils growing out of the magic circle extended outwards, one in particular stretching towards his heart and one other one making its way up his neck. In a flash, Natsu was on his friend, who had fallen to his knees and gripped at the base of his neck, teeth clenched tightly as he grunted in pain.

“Gray!” Makarov immediately rushed forward, with a cry of,

“Natsu, no!” The second Natsu touched the ice mage, Gray screamed an ear-piercing cry and hunched over. Makarov pulled the Dragon Slayer away from Gray. “Stay there!” he ordered as he attempted to rouse the ice mage from his pain-induced haze. Shaking his shoulders gently, he eventually managed to get Gray to respond to them again. Makarov propped him up against the wall.

“Are you alright, Gray? What happened?” Gray held his head in his palm as he shook of the last remains of the pain that had plagued him earlier.

“I... don’t know. One minute I was fine and the second I feel like my neck is on fire...” Makarov’s expression turned grim.

“I’m afraid I don’t know how to help you, Gray. I could ask Porlyusica to take a look at you but I can’t do anything else... From what Natsu tells me, you’ve been branded with her magic circle and that’s doing something to you.” Gray nodded slowly. Angel Slaying Magic was new to all of them. He couldn’t expect the master to know too much about the subject. The old man turned back to the pink haired mage.

“As for you Natsu, you are not allowed to touch Gray. At all,” he ruled. Natsu’s jaw dropped dramatically.

“What?! Why, jii-chan?!” he demanded. Makarov sighed.

“From what I’ve seen, Slayer Magic that isn’t Angel Slaying has a negative effect on anyone who’s been affected by it. Unless you want to cause Gray more pain, I don’t think you should be near Gray at all or if you have to be near him, refrain from touching him.” Natsu frowned but agreed. He knew that this was serious.

When Gray and Natsu exited the room, the loud chatter that had once filled the guildhall came to a close immediately. Every pair of eyes in the room followed the two rivals as they stayed as far away from each other as possible. Everyone watched as Natsu and Happy left the guild and Gray made his way back to one of the tables and buried his head in his arms again, wanting nothing more than to fall asleep. But he didn’t get the chance when Erza marched up to him and slammed an armoured fist onto the table.

“Gray, I demand to know what is going on! Why have Master and Natsu summoned you to talk in private?” Gray sighed exhaustedly. He didn’t want to deal with this.

“In short, I got hit with something weird on our last mission and they sort of know what’s going on,” he explained tiredly. Erza’s eyes widened as she grabbed Gray’s arm and inspected it closely. When she found nothing, she did a quick full body check. When she still found nothing, she cast a concerned gaze towards the tired ice mage. Gray yawned.

“I don’t know. Natsu and jii-san didn’t tell me where it was. All I know is that I’ve been branded with a magic circle. Matilda Mueller’s to be exact.” At this, Erza’s eyes narrowed.

“The mage you were fighting?” she asked. Gray nodded in confirmation before going back to his quality time with the table’s surface. Erza held her chin in her hand. This was troubling. But Gray did not seem to be in any condition to answer her questions. Frustrated, she barged into the master’s room at the back.

 

“Master!” she yelled as the door flew off its hinges. Makarov cried comical tears as he thought about the money it would cost to replace that door. The scarlet haired mage stood in front of the shorter man, hands on her hips, an absolutely demonic expression on her face. “Master, what’s wrong with Gray?” she demanded. Makarov sighed. Of course he had to deal with this. He gestured to the seat in front of his desk.

“Take a seat, Erza. This may take some time to explain.”

 

By the time Fairy Tail’s master had finished explaining the situation to Titania, livid couldn’t even describe her.

“That bitch!” she roared as she made towards the door. She was met with a giant hand blocking the exit. Enraged, she turned back to the person obstructing her path. “Master!” she protested. Makarov looked up at her with a grim expression.

“The last thing we need is two mages affected by this magic. For now, we should wait and see if Porlyusica knows how to cure Gray.” Erza scowled. She hated the idea of leaving her friend’s well being up to someone else but she had no choice. She angrily marched out of the office. Makarov sighed after her and made his way back to his seat. He was getting too old for this.

 

* * *

 

By the time Erza returned to the main hall, Gray had already left. Lucy came up to her worriedly.

“Erza, what did Master say?” she asked. Erza scowled, the dark look in her eyes scaring anyone who saw her.

Snarling, she relayed everything that Makarov had told her to the blonde. Lucy covered her mouth in shock. How could that woman have done that to one of her friends? Erza clenched her armoured fist. “If I ever see her again, there will be nothing stopping me from killing that bitch,” she growled. Lucy gulped. She had never seen Erza this mad; not even when the guild had been attacked. Without another word, Erza marched out of the guild. Lucy shuddered. Who knew Erza was so protective of Gray? As if sensing her question, Cana looked up from her barrel.

“Those two have been friends for a while. Longer than Gray has known Natsu. They’re a lot closer than they seem,” she explained. Lucy nodded slowly. She knew that the two were close, but hadn’t known to that extent. She sat down briefly, only to stand back up and go to the request board with a determined expression on her face. Her rent for next month wasn’t going to pay itself!


	6. Out of Control

Natsu walked back into the guild sluggishly. He hadn’t done a productive thing all afternoon. Somehow, he had ended up running into Gray a lot more than he would have liked. The second the dragon slayer caught whiff of the ice mage’s distinctive scent of pine and winter, he turned and sprinted in the other direction, only for Happy to follow in confusion. Just thinking about it again made Natsu sigh with irritation. He was about to plop himself down at a chair when Lucy came up to him, grinning like crazy. Natsu raised an eyebrow. Lucy grinned even wider as she pulled a job request out from behind her back.

“You seemed kind of down so I thought that going on a job might cheer you up!” she exclaimed. Natsu felt his sprits lift. A job! That would distract him and keep him away from Gray for a while! He was so caught up in his thoughts that he didn’t hear the rest of Lucy’s sentence. He stood up, surprising her and cutting her off.

“Thanks, Luce! You’re the best!” he said as he grinned childishly before racing out of the guild. He needed to tell Happy and pack his bags for the job and didn’t want to waste any time. Lucy sighed as she watched him run. She had a feeling that Natsu hadn’t listened to thing that she had said. Oh well. He would find out tomorrow.

 

* * *

 

Natsu felt his eyebrow twitch in irritation. What the hell was Gray doing here? He watched as Gray’s own eyebrows furrowed in confusion at first, and then irritation of their own. Natsu rolled his eyes. Good to know that he was loved. He stomped his way up to his rival.

“Why the hell are you here stripper?” he demanded. Gray crossed his arms.

“If you must know, Lucy said that we’re going on a job.” Confusion replaced irritation on Natsu’s face.

“Hold on, Lucy said she was going on a job with me…” Gray rolled his eyes.

“That _means_ , you flame brain, that –”

“It’s a job for the team,” a voice interrupted. The two boys turned to Lucy, and most importantly, Erza, standing there with a menacing glare. A collective _“eep_ ” was heard from the two of them as they sweated nervously and awaited the great Titania’s wrath.

“Are you two _fighting_?” she asked. The boys shook their heads furiously. A smile replaced the frown on the scarlet haired mage’s face as she nodded with approval. “Good. I don’t want any fighting between the two of you on this mission. Is that understood?” The furious head shaking turned to nodding. Lucy looked around.

“Natsu, where’s Happy?” she asked. Natsu scratched the back of his head.

“He said he wanted to go on a mission with Wendy and Carla,” he said. Lucy nodded. It was rare that Happy was separate from Natsu, but maybe his crush on Carla took precedence over their mission. Lucy grabbed her luggage and made her way onto the train, Gray following behind her. Natsu was trying to run away, but had failed in doing so, especially with Erza there. The train whistle blew as they prepared to depart. Natsu gave one last desperate cry before being dragged onto his moving death. Gray and Lucy watched, amused, as they sat down next to each other and began to prepare themselves. It wasn’t a long ride, but listening to Natsu’s moans and groans wasn’t exactly the best thing to deal with.

 

* * *

 

They finally reached their destination and Natsu all but crawled out of their rail car. Gray rolled his eyes at the dragon slayer’s antics. Erza grabbed the pink haired idiot by the ear and proceeded to drag him in to town. Lucy laughed as she was about to follow, only to notice that it had gotten colder than it was a few seconds ago. She glanced over at Gray, who seemed to be emitting a frosty vapour around him. She raised an eyebrow in confusion. _That_ had never happened before, at least without reason. She tapped him on the shoulder.

“Gray, you’re uhh... frosting?” she tried. The ice mage looked down at himself and realised that he indeed was frosting. Furrowing his brows, he dispelled the mist around him and shot a sheepish and apologetic look at the blonde. Lucy still had an eyebrow raised. It wasn’t like Gray to do that. But nevertheless, she ignored the feeling in her gut and plastered on a fake smile. They heard Natsu’s voice from far down the road.

“Oi you guys are gonna get left behind!” he warned. With that, the two were reminded that they had a mission to do. Lucy turned back to Gray only to find him in only his boxers.

“Gray your clothes!”

“Ack!”

 

* * *

 

The team had located the troublesome gangsters in a heartbeat. It also helped a lot that they were harassing a poor kid when they had come out of the mayor’s office. That had been a dead giveaway. In a flash, Natsu had launched himself at the gang leader, fists blazing. The three of them sighed as they jumped into the fray as well. What they hadn’t counted on though, was the gang having weapons. With a flick of the wrist, they had all unsheathed their switchblades. Most of the team had to jump back to avoid being stabbed. For Erza, it wasn’t a problem since she wore armour as she continued to beat the members of the gang. The rest of them sweat dropped but jumped right back into the thick of things, being extra careful to avoid the knives.

 

It wasn’t until a few minutes into the fight that the fighters found themselves unable to move. They all looked down to find their feet frozen to the ground. Frantically, the members of the gang screamed and tried to pull themselves free. The Fairy Tail mages however, turned to look at the ice mage, who was staring at his hands in shock. He slowly back up, ice spreading from wherever his feet touched.

“I- I’m not doing this on purpose, I swear!” he promised. The ice began to crawl up everyone’s legs. Natsu attempted to punch the ice with fire but for some strange reason, it didn’t melt. He looked up in frustration and met Gray’s gaze. For the first time in many years, he saw pure and utter terror on his rival’s face. Gray, who was usually so in control of his emotions and the situations he found himself in, was _scared_.

 

The ice had spread onto his chest by now. The others were not as lucky. Lucy and Erza were frozen up to their shoulders while the gang was already frozen solid. Natsu thanked his lucky stars that he was a fire mage or else he would be in the same predicament as his female guild mates. He turned back to his terrified friend.

“Gray, you have to calm down.  Take deep breaths. You know how to make it go away. Please, you just need to calm down,” he tried. The raven had begun to take deep breaths and was on the verge of hyperventilating. It was as if he hadn’t heard Natsu at all. He growled. Now was not the time for him to be useless. Scorching flames flared up and slowly but surely, the ice encasing him began to recede. However, the same could not be said for the girls who had ice up to their necks. Making a silent promise to the girls to free them later, he headed over to Gray. The ice mage was hugging himself tightly, his breaths coming out in ragged pants and he trembled as if he had suddenly gotten the chills. The last one bothered Natsu more than the rest. Gray was an _ice_ mage. He shouldn’t shiver. He _didn’t_ shiver. As Natsu got closer, he noticed the tremble in Gray’s lower lip and the unnatural paleness of his face. His strides got longer as he rushed to his friend’s side. A very visible flinch racked Gray’s frame as he tried to put some distance in between himself and the Dragon Slayer. But Natsu would have none of it. He roughly grabbed onto Gray’s bicep and fought back his distress as he watched his best friend bite back a scream. A whiff of iron made Natsu that Gray had bit his lip so hard that it had bled. He quickly let go of the ice mage, only for him to fall to his knees and begin dry heaving. Natsu knelt down next to him, careful to refrain from touching the ice mage lest he make things worse.

“Gray... Gray! Come on, talk to me!” Natsu pleaded as the ice mage began to _really_ hyperventilate. Natsu looked at the raven helplessly, not knowing at all what to do. Behind him, he heard Erza shout to him.

“Snap him out of it, Natsu!” Snap him out of it? What the hell did it look like he was trying to do? The polka? Since he ran out of ideas of waking Gray up without touching him, he ended up delivering a quick hand chop to the back of Gray’s neck. A small gasp escaped the raven’s lips before he began to slump forward. Natsu caught his friend and quickly propped him up against the closest wall, not wanting to cause Gray more pain from his touch. Once he made sure that Gray was, for all intents and purposes, safe, he made his way back to his almost completely frozen teammates and let his flames loose.

* * *

After Lucy dropped the still frozen members of the gang off at the police station, they all gathered back in the mayor’s office. The man had stepped out for a while and had offered the use of his office until the mages left. Erza and Lucy were wrapped up in warm blankets, still a little chilly from their time encased in ice. Gray was laid on the couch, where he was still lying unconscious. Natsu watched from behind the couch as his friend shifted in his sleep and his eyes widened as he watched the tendrils coming out of the magic circle on Gray’s neck squirmed and extended. Almost immediately, Gray began to furrow his brow and shifted on the couch again. Natsu turned to Erza, who was sipping calmly from her mug of hot chocolate.

“Erza, can you wake him up? I think there’s something wrong…” he trailed off. Erza raised an eyebrow but stood up and began to make her way over to her friend. Before she took even a step forward, ice shot out of Gray’s body. The sudden blast of magic threw Natsu back and he crashed through the door, breaking it. Erza stood her ground as best as she could and covered her eyes with her forearm. When she withdrew her arm, she found a cave of ice separating her from Gray. She drew back in surprise, only to requip a magic sword and began to hack away at the barrier. She was surprised to find that her sword had barely even scratched the surface of the ice. Frowning, she brought out her sword from her Flame Empress armour. A column of flame erupted from the sword tip but did not do as much as she had hoped to melt the obstruction. Erza growled as she summoned more magic and let loose a more powerful blast. From the looks of things, this would take a while.

 

* * *

 

Natsu shook his pink locks as he stood up and brushed off the stray pieces of wood from the door. He was about to step into the room again when he found the ice blocking his path. Unfazed, he let loose a powerful Fire Dragon’s Roar. When his magic subsided, he found that the ice had barely melted at all. He tried again and again and finally succeeded in melting a tunnel big enough for him. Cautiously, he walked through. He found the couch easily enough, but the only problem was that Gray was still unconscious and Natsu _really_ did not want to touch and hurt him. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Erza trying to hack through the ice, armed with her sword. Natsu let loose another blast of magic, but was surprised to find that this time, his Roar had not done as much as it had last time. A good chunk of the ice was still gone, but not enough to let Erza through. Growling, he unleashed another. And another. But each time, the amount of ice that melted grew smaller and smaller. It was almost as if the ice was developing antibodies against his fire. Finally, it grew to a point where the ice just didn’t melt at all. Sighing in defeat, he signalled to Erza that this was all he could do. He saw her nod and point back to the raven. He hesitantly nodded and made his way back to Gray, who still had not regained consciousness but had begun thrashing on the couch, fighting an unseen enemy. Natsu had to hold him down in fear that he would hurt himself. A part of him felt guilty when a pained scream tore itself from Gray’s throat but he reminded himself that this was for Gray’s own good. 

“Stripper, wake up! Gray! Stop fooling around! You have to wake up!”

 

Dull dark blue eyes opened slowly as their owner blinked drearily and began to come out of the recesses of sleep, panting as if it pained him. Natsu’s heart stopped for a minute. Those eyes. Those eyes had never looked so dead. Not even when Gray wandered around aimlessly in Magnolia during Ur’s death anniversary. A bead of sweat trickled down his face as his mouth opened and closed soundlessly. And just like that, the look in Gray’s eyes was gone and the life returned. He blinked quickly, as if clearing his vision of any remnants of the void that had been seen in his depths earlier.

“Natsu...? Where are we?” he asked as he pushed himself up. Natsu gulped and finally found his voice again.

“We’re in the mayor’s office. You passed out after the fight,” he explained. Gray nodded slowly as he held his head in his hands. A quick flicker of pain ran across Gray’s features before they settled back into their normal state. However, it didn’t go unnoticed by Natsu. Nevertheless, the Dragon Slayer kept his mouth shut. It was then that Gray lifted his head and finally seemed to take notice of his surroundings. A small tremor ran through his frame.

“Did I... do this?” he asked quietly. Again, Natsu said nothing. And that was all the confirmation Gray needed. He grit his teeth and cursed. The two rivals stayed there, silent and not making eye contact with one another. After what seemed like an eternity, the silence was broken by an explosion off to their right. Erza had finally burst through the ice on her side. Immediately requipping her sword away, she raced to Gray with Lucy hot on her heels.

“Are you ok?” she asked urgently. Gray managed to nod numbly and Erza knew that there was something bothering the ice mage.  But she couldn’t linger on that right now. They had to fix up the office before the mayor returned. She gently helped her friend off the couch. “Can you dispel the ice?” she asked. Gray frowned but nodded. He placed his palms on the remaining ice and closed his eyes in concentration. For a while, nothing happened. The rest of the team waited there patiently as Gray kicked the ice once out of frustration. Finally, taking way longer than anyone thought it would, the ice vanished in a sweep of cold Arctic air.

* * *

 

Lucy surveyed the office. Other than the door, it actually wasn’t in too bad a shape. Nevertheless, the guild would still have to compensate for it. She was brought out of her musings when Gray fell to one knee on the floor. They were all immediately upon him, but were all pushed away by the raven who stormed out the hole where the door once was. An awkward silence fell upon the rest of the group before Lucy meekly pointed at the door.

“I’m going to go check on Gray...” she said as she left the two childhood friends to their thoughts.


	7. Tempted To Give In

Lucy pouted as she placed her hands on her hips. She had said that she would go and check on Gray, but that said, she had no idea where he was. She stood outside the city hall, looking left and right with no trace of the raven in sight. She sighed. Maybe Natsu should have looked for him instead. A frown made its way to her face as she thought about that more. For some reason, Natsu and Gray were behaving themselves much more recently. The two never fought anymore, other than the insults thrown around. Lucy wondered what had gotten into the two of them. She was about to turn and head back inside when a sudden chill caused her to shiver. Knowing that there was only one reason why she would suddenly feel cold, she sprinted off in the direction of the cold.

 

* * *

 

Gray stood squared off with his hands in his signature Ice Make formation against a familiar green haired figure. Matilda smiled as she raised her hands in mock surrender.

“Now now, Gray,” she said in a patronizing tone. “I’m not here to fight. I just want to talk.” Hesitantly, Gray lowered his stance. As much as he hated the woman in front of him, he needed some answers.

“What the fuck did you do to me?” he ground out. When she made no effort to answer, he clenched his fists and let icy mist emit from them. “You plague my nightmares, I’ve started to lose control of my magic, just _touching_ Natsu feels like I’m being lit on fire and according to him and jii-san, you’ve branded me with your magic circle.” Matilda laughed lightly. She extended her hand towards him.

“My dear Gray, I believe I told you before. You’re going to be my trump card in my assault on Fairy Tail. I will however, explain to you why the Salamander’s touch is painful.” Gray glared expectantly at her. “Angel Slaying Magic is a magic that rejects all other Slayer Magic. This quality that we possess was one of the prime reasons why my kindred were hunted down by the other Slayers, years ago. In other words, my magic just doesn’t like the Dragon Slayer and as a result, neither does your body.”  Gray scowled.

“That’s the stupidest reason I’ve ever heard.”

“Stupid or not, it is the truth.”

“Leave me the fuck alone,” Gray demanded.

“Hmm... how about you do as I say and then I’ll think about it,” she said as a malicious smile replaced the sweet one she had on earlier. Gray’s own fists were shaking with rage by this time. He pulled his hands into his Ice Make stance as he prepared to launch an attack on the vile woman. But in the spur of the moment, he forgot that he didn’t have full control of his magic. What would have been lances turned into a hammer as it dropped down inches away from Matilda. The Slayer scoffed as she brushed a lock of green hair back.

“Is that they best you’ve got? Because my dear Gray, you won’t be much use to me if it is.” The raven scowled as he prepared himself to charge at his foe but froze when he found himself unable to move. No matter how much he willed it, his muscles did not listen to him. His attention was taken away from his body when he once again heard the taunting laughter of his opponent. “You want to know what I’ve done to you? I don’t think I want to tell you just yet, Gray. It’s much more entertaining for me to watch as you pathetic fairies struggle to figure it out. They have roughly three days left. _You_ have roughly three days left,” she giggled. She turned her head to the left and scoffed before looking back to the raven. “I need to go, my dear puppet. The blonde brat has returned with the rest of your bunch. Ta-ta!” she called as the space she was occupying distorted and she vanished.

 

Right on cue, Lucy arrived with Erza and Natsu in tow. The celestial mage scanned the area, confused.

“I swear I saw Matilda Mueller here,” she said. Natsu sniffed the area, his nose scrunching up in distaste.

“I don’t smell her, but I _do_ smell that other guy, Steven What’s his face. His stench is all over the place.” Lucy frowned.

“But I was sure I saw Matilda! Are you sure you don’t smell her?” she asked. Natsu frowned but nodded. He turned his attention back to Gray, who had fallen onto his knees and was staring blankly at the floor. Natsu carefully approached his best friend.

“Gray... are you ok?” he asked. Lifeless blue eyes turned to meet his gaze. Dull and cold. Just like when Gray had woken up earlier. Gray pushed himself off of the ground slowly, not paying any heed to him. Gray stumbled a bit and Natsu moved to help his friend only for Gray to stop him. Natsu understood and stayed back, biting his lip and cursing at his uselessness. Gray steadied himself against a wall and began to shuffle his way over to where the girls had been watching their exchange silently. Lucy placed her hand on Gray’s shoulder as a way to comfort him, only to have him shrug it off coldly. She pretended not to be hurt and gave him a weak smile that contradicted the worried look in her eyes. Erza studied Gray as well, not knowing what to say to her childhood friend. None of them had any idea what he was going through so how could they possibly hope to comfort him? No one breathed a word as Gray walked away from them. It was only when he was completely out of sight that Natsu punched the closest wall and caused it to collapse.

“Damn it!”

 

* * *

 

Gray stormed through the empty streets of town as he struggled to regain his composure. Why had he just lost it like that in front of an enemy? He had years and years of fighting experience and he had never just shut down like that. Nor had his magic ever disobeyed him like this. Why couldn’t he mold what he wanted to? What had she _done_ , he asked himself over and over again. As if trying to answer his questions, his neck pulsed as it began to burn again. Growling, Gray ducked into the nearest alley and sat against the wall, grasping at his neck. Grunts and moans echoed through the alley as Gray tried to control his pain. Matilda’s melodious voice tormented his mind.

_“Do you want it to stop?”_

_“Is the pain too much?”_

_“Do you want control over your magic back?”_

The last question caught Gray’s attention. Of course he wanted his magic back! Gray could feel the voice in his head grin.

 

_“Then let go. Allow my magic to wash over you. And then you will have what you desire.”_

 

“Ice Bastard snap out of it!” a voice jolted him from his thoughts. Looking up, he found himself looking into the eyes of none other than Natsu Dragneel. With a groan, he pushed himself off of the wall. Natsu watched in noiselessly as his friend stood and began to walk away. Natsu caught up and strolled beside Gray in silence. Moments passed without a word spoken by either party until Gray stopped in his tracks. Natsu continued to walk until Gray spoke up.

“How did you find me? I left and none of you followed me.” Natsu paused. Gray wouldn’t like his answer.

“I followed your smell. It was...different than usual so I followed you to check up on you.” As expected, Gray growled.

“I don’t need a babysitter, Natsu! Damn it, why won’t you all leave me alone?” This time, it was Natsu that growled.

“We won’t leave you alone because we know that there’s something wrong, you bastard! Why can’t you just accept the fact that we want to help you!”

“Because I don’t need your help! I _shouldn’t_ need your help!” Gray roared. Natsu shut up immediately. His eyes softened. “I don’t need to depend on you or Erza or jii-san! Even now, I hate that pitying look on your face!” Gray continued. “Just because some bitch marked me with her magic circle, you all get so damn overprotective! It’s suffocating! You all need to leave me the fuck alone!” Panting from his outburst, Gray shot his rival a hateful glare before taking off.

“Gray! Damnit Ice Block, get back here!” Natsu shouted as he chased after the ice mage.

 

Gray shut his eyes and ran and ran. He wanted to escape. He wanted this to be a dream. But the sad reality was that it wasn’t. The Angel Slayer had some sort of hold over him. He knew it. He could feel her magic pulsing through his veins. And he hated it. It felt disgusting and revolting, like he was a part of her. He shook his head and picked up his pace. He knew that Natsu was behind him. Why couldn’t the idiot take a hint and leave him alone? No one understood how he felt. They never would. Sharp blue eyes opened as he lowered his head and the blue orbs began to lose focus. Natsu truly was an idiot, he mused. Sulfur Breath hated his guts and yet here he was chasing after Gray like he cared. His teeth gritted in annoyance and irritation. He didn’t need Natsu! He didn’t need Erza! He didn’t need anyone! He didn’t need anyone... Anyone but _her_.

 

* * *

 

Natsu gasped as he felt the air around Gray shift as well as his scent morph. He frowned. Gray’s scent had become clouded again, but clouded with what, he wasn’t exactly sure. The ice mage’s usual winter pine scent had mixed with something familiar, but undistinguishable.  He watched as Gray began to run faster and increased his speed as well. The distance between the two wasn’t growing any smaller and Natsu scowled. That idiot was too stubborn for his own good! Grinning at the brilliant idea that had just occurred to him, Natsu lit his heels on fire and laughed in satisfaction as he flew forward. The only problem was that he was so pleased with himself that he didn’t notice where he was going and ended up crashing into Gray. The two grunted and cursed as their entangled limbs flailed about. The two stopped with Natsu pinning Gray down, the fire mage’s knees on either side of Gray’s thighs and his hands holding Gray’s shoulders in place. Again, Natsu felt his heart drop to his stomach as he caught sight of the dead look in Gray’s eyes and the pained expression on his features. Murmurs flew in the background from the townspeople but Natsu didn’t care. He just wanted Gray to snap out of whatever daze he was in. Quickly, he punched Gray in the face. The raven’s head jerked to the side. Immediately, he sat up and placed his palm on his swelling cheek.

“What the hell was that for Ash for Brains?!” Natsu sighed in relief. Gray watched confused as Natsu made his way over to him and caught him in a quick hug. Even after Natsu pulled away and the burning pain from his best friend’s touch made itself known, Gray’s mouth remained open in shock. Natsu laughed lightheartedly. Gray show him an irritated glare that only made Natsu laugh harder.

“Hey!” Gray exclaimed, trying to get the fire mage’s attention. Natsu wiped a tear from his eye and gave Gray a smile.

“I’m just glad you’re back to normal,” he said. Gray raised an eyebrow. Was he not normal? Natsu read the confused expression on the raven’s face and sighed. “Your eyes were... dead. Like there was no life in them. And your scent changed. It was still yours but... it was mixed with something else.” Gray’s eyes widened. How could his scent have changed? That was impossible... right? But the look on Natsu’s face told him that he wasn’t joking. Shakily he stood up, trying his best not to look perturbed. Natsu’s face was still plastered with concern and Gray gave a teasing punch to Natsu’s bicep, despite the brief flicker of pain he felt.

“I’m fine, Flame Head. Don’t worry,” he said as he turned his back to his friend. Natsu’s penetrating gaze bore through his back, but he pretended not to notice. His hands shook and he hid them in the pockets of his jeans. He didn’t want to see that look of concern on Natsu’s face. It didn’t feel right. Not on Natsu’s face. Gray began to walk back towards their hotel, trembling hands still shoved in his pockets. Natsu followed and fell into step with the raven. Not a word was exchanged between the two as they trekked back to their companions. Not even when Natsu noticed that the tendrils from the circle had grown longer.

 

* * *

 

“Gray! Natsu! There you are! We were starting to get worried,” Lucy greeted. Gray gave her a weak smile and entered his room and closed the door, not saying a word to anyone. The rest of the team was left in awkward silence. A look passed between Erza and Natsu as the Dragon Slayer silently indicated that something was wrong. Erza’s eyes narrowed. Gray hadn’t spoken up, nor would he likely ever, so the two had to resort to trailing Gray wherever he went, just to make sure he was ok. Lucy joined in on the silent conversation as well. Natsu took a breath and began to relay what had just happened moments earlier.

 

 

“This is most concerning. We need to inform the Master of this when we return,” Erza insisted. Lucy nodded, scared for what this meant. Natsu bit his lip. If he could, he would just burn Gray’s problems away, since that seemed to work with most problems they encountered. But this was different. They didn’t have enough information. To try and burn that mark off... Natsu didn’t know what would happen, especially if his mere _touch_ brought Gray pain. Natsu sat down in an empty armchair and leaned back, pink bangs covering his obsidian eyes. What the hell were they supposed to do?

 

* * *

 

Gray grumbled as the train jostled a bit and Natsu made an unintelligible noise that sounded like a cross between someone withstanding Erza’s wrath and something getting run over by a train. Lucy inched further away from the Dragon Slayer and Erza simply brought a hand to her temple with a frown. She swapped places with Lucy and slugged the motion sick fire mage in the gut, as per routine. Gray stifled a laugh. While he was sure that his poor rival felt like shit, it was pretty funny to watch Erza knock him out like that. The raven leaned back in his seat and let his eyelids close. Maybe he would take a page from Natsu’s book and take a nap for a while.


	8. Porlyusica

Matilda smirked as she sent another one of the prison guards to his eternal rest. She reached down for the man’s belt and easily unlatched the ring of keys attached to it. She twirled it around her index finger.

“Thank you for your co-operation,” she mocked. She walked down the hallway when the air in front of her shimmered and her right hand man appeared.

“Cells 466 to 666,” he answered the unspoken question. Matilda grinned.

“Thank you Steven. I know I can always count on you.” Steven shot her a grin of his own.

“No problem. It was a smart move to choose this town to set up base. Everyone here is weak.” Matilda strutted down the hallway and stopped at the first cell.

“Did you expect anything less of me?” she asked as she inserted the key and unlocked the door. The prisoner inside frowned.

“You sure took your time, Master.” Matilda shrugged.

“Had some errands to run. Now are you going help me free the rest of you or do you just want to sit there and rot in jail?”

 

* * *

 

Gray woke up to gentle shaking. Azure depths opened and saw deep red. Erza then, he mused. Rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, Gray leaned back and stretched. Erza watched him, scrutinizing his every movement.

“Lucy and Natsu are already off the train. Come on, Gray. We need to speak to Master.” Gray sighed but stood up and yawned and began to exit the train.

 

* * *

 

They weren’t a step into the guild when Happy flew up and tackled Natsu’s face with a hug.

“Natsuuu! I missed you!” the Exceed cried. Natsu smiled and petted Happy softly.

“I missed you too buddy. How was the mission?” he asked.

“It was boring! There were no fish!” Happy pouted. Everyone had to chuckle at that. When the laughter subsided, Erza wasted no time dragging Gray and Natsu towards the back room where Makarov was. Lucy followed as well, leaving the blue cat and the rest of the guild baffled.

 

* * *

 

“Master!” Titania yelled as she broke through his door again. Makarov sulked. He had just gotten that door fixed! But when he saw Natsu, Gray and Lucy behind her, he immediately became serious.

“What is it?” he asked. All eyes turned to Gray as he looked down, embarrassed and ashamed by what he was about to say. He bit his lip and tried to be brave as he looked up to meet Makarov’s gaze.

“I... I’m losing control of my magic, jii-san.”

 

To Makarov, that simple sentence seemed to bring the world around him crashing down. A mage’s magic was their life, their everything! How could this happen? But he already knew the answer to that question. It was because of _her_ that Gray had to go through this suffering. When Makarov looked back at Gray, he found the raven looking away, not daring to make eye contact with anyone in the room. He sighed as he hopped down from the desk he had been standing on.

“Don’t worry, Gray. You’ll get it back. I promise.” Gray looked disbelievingly at him but bit his lip and nodded instead. Sighing, he changed the subject. “Have you gone to see Porlyusica yet?” he asked. Gray’s eyes widened.

“I thought you were going to bring her here...” Makarov smacked his palm to his forehead.

“No! Ugh...” he groaned. “Forget it! We’re going right now! Let’s go!” he announced as he exited the room, clearly expecting all of them to follow. They all did although Gray seemed to fall behind a bit.

 

* * *

 

Not even twenty steps after they exited the guild, Gray stopped suddenly. When Natsu heard Gray’s steady footsteps stop, he turned back, a questioning look etched on his face.

“Gray?” he asked. Everyone turned around at that. The ice mage’s eyes were dull and his face pale. The purple tendrils that had up until now only been on his neck, grew and extended so that a few were on his face and a few on his chest. Natsu’s eyes narrowed and he unknowingly let out a snarl. As if reacting to the growl, Gray turned almost robotically towards the Dragon Slayer. Natsu flinched back a bit, staring into the pools of empty blue. Then, without warning, Gray pitched forward. Letting loose a string of not so nice words, Natsu dove to catch his friend, only to be held back by Makarov and have Erza barely catch him. Natsu almost yelled at the master, only to realise that what he did was probably for Gray’s best interest. So instead he bit his lip and cursed his uselessness.

 

Erza cradled her childhood friend’s head on her lap, which thankfully, was not covered in armour. Brushing the locks out of his face, Erza bit back a gasp when she looked into his empty gaze. She turned away quickly before any tears could make themselves known. She couldn’t bear the thought of her little brother looking so dead. Steeling herself, she turned back to the unresponsive figure in her lap. Gently, she shook him, attempting to rouse him from whatever trance he was in. What she got, however, was only a series of unintelligible murmurs. Behind her, she sensed Natsu stiffen, obviously having heard what Gray had said. Concern growing, she shook Gray a little harder, only to have nothing happen. Just when she was about to resort to slapping the ice mage awake, she heard an ear splitting roar resound from behind her, followed by a desperate,

“Gray wake up! _Please!_ ”

 

* * *

 

Natsu stiffened in Makarov’s hold as he heard exactly what Gray mumbled in his trance, none of it sounding like anything Gray would ever say on his own.

 

_“Yeah... I will...”_

_“They will die...”_

_“A bloodbath in the name of the Angels...”_

Realizing with startling clarity what that meant, Natsu let loose a ferocious roar that had Lucy covering her ears and Makarov flinching back. How dare that vile woman try to use Gray! How dare she even mark Gray to begin with! And now...

 

…she was going to use Gray to kill. Who, he didn’t know, but the idea that _Gray_ was going to kill just sickened him. He had to stop her. So that Gray wouldn’t dirty his hands. Because Natsu knew that if Gray ever killed someone, he would be wracked with guilt for the rest of his life. He already knew what Gray was like during Ur’s death anniversary. Gray couldn’t go through that again; it would tear him apart. Besides, he had a feeling that if he let Gray go now, he wouldn’t get him back. Choking on a sob for his friend, Natsu screamed out a desperate plea.

“Gray wake up! _Please!_ ”

 

* * *

 

_Gray was floating. He smiled in content as he closed his eyes and just enjoyed the feeling of being weightless. In this space he couldn’t feel anything around him; his senses relaxed to the point that something could explode in his face and he wouldn’t care. A soft voice whispered in his mind to fall asleep and let the feeling of peace consume him. He hummed in agreement._

**_“Yeah... I will...”_ ** _he consented as he felt himself fall deeper. He opened his eyes and let them survey the space around him. Strewn bodies of his guild mates lay on the floor, tainting it with blood. Gray drew a horrified gasp as he stared at the corpses of his friends and family. Natsu. Lucy. Erza. Happy. Cana. Mirajane. Even Makarov. He looked up and glared at the people responsible with unfathomable hate. Even when the people responsible were revealed to be none other than the guild themselves, Gray continued to glare._

**_“Don’t you want them dead? The ones who hurt your family?”_ ** _the voice asked._

**_“They will die...”_ ** _he promised, barely concealed rage seeping into his tone. The voice sounded pleased when it spoke again._

**_“And who will this be for? Who will this glorious destruction be in the name of?”_ **

_Gray hesitated before giving his answer, the magic circle on his neck pulsing brightly._

**_“It will be a bloodbath... in the name of the Angels.”_ ** _The voice hummed in satisfaction. Gray closed his eyes again and let himself be enveloped by the calming feeling that was spreading through him. Before he could fall asleep, a pleading scream assaulted his eardrums._

**_“Gray wake up! Please!”_ ** _He knew that voice. He knew it well. Azure depths slowly opened and the light returned to them._

**_“Natsu...”_ ** _A searing pain in his neck caused him to cry out and the space around him faded away to nothing._

 

* * *

 

Natsu nearly had a heart attack when Gray had turned his gaze towards him and breathed his name out. He had almost missed it, but he was so thankful that he hadn’t. Just then, the light returned to Gray’s eyes and he curled in on himself in Erza’s lap and began to cough. The redhead was surprised but quickly recovered and began to run her hand soothingly up and down Gray’s back. Lucy sobbed in relief that her friend was back to normal. She couldn’t do anything while Gray was unresponsive but she was just glad that he was back with them. Makarov let out a breath he didn’t know he had been holding. Thank Mavis, he thought. Natsu pried himself out of the master’s grasp gently and made his way over to where Gray and Erza were. The raven had calmed down by now and was sitting up with some help from Erza. Natsu came to a stop in front of the two. Gray looked up and met his eyes. Even though they were harsh, Gray could see the hidden emotion behind them.

“I heard your voice. Thank you, Natsu,” he said. Natsu couldn’t pretend to be angry any longer. He dropped to his knees and let a tear slip by.

“Y-You idiot!” he scolded, his voice hitching. “If you ever do that again, I’m going to kick your ass! Don’t you dare die on me!” he shouted. Gray smiled knowingly.

“Yeah, I know. I’m an idiot. Sorry.”

 

* * *

 

It was well into the evening when the group arrived at Porlyusica’s house. When she first opened up and saw the group of people outside her doorstep, she slammed the door shut immediately. The group stood in shocked silence before knocking again politely, in fear of the old lady’s wrath. Loud grumbling and complaining could be heard on the other side of the door but it opened nonetheless.

“What do you want?” she barked. Makarov coughed into his fist but gestured to Gray.

“There’s ah... something amiss with him. Could you take a look at him?” Porlyusica’s eyes scanned the group as she crossed her arms.

“Be that as it may, I don’t see any reason for you _all_ to be here.” Makarov turned to Lucy and Erza. The two nodded before turning back the way they came.

“See you guys later then!” Lucy called.

“Gray, I expect a full update on your condition when you return,” Erza demanded. Gray gulped and nodded, waving goodbye meekly. When the girls were out of sight, Porlyusica turned to Natsu.

“And? Why is he still here?” she asked. Natsu felt his eyebrow twitch in irritation. Before he could open his mouth to tell her off, Makarov intervened.

“He’s the only one who can see the magic circle.”

“Circle?”

 

* * *

 

“An Angel Slayer you say? I see,” Porlyusica said as she held her chin in her hand. Gray sat on a patient’s bed, his shirt discarded long ago, which actually served to help them in this case, while Natsu and Makarov stood off to the side. The pink haired woman turned to Natsu.

“Human, let me borrow your eyesight for a minute.” Natsu tilted his head to the side.

“What?” he asked. Porlyusica sighed and handed him a red potion.

“This is why I hate humans... Just drink that. I’ve already casted the necessary magic on it.” Slowly, Natsu downed the potion before making a face of disgust.

“Ugh what are you trying to do, corrode my taste buds?!” he complained. Makarov laughed. Then he turned to Porlyusica. The woman was now bathed in red light, her pupils slitted reptilian like how Natsu’s were sometimes.

“Hmm... I’ve never seen anything like this before,” she said as she traced the tendrils growing out of the circle from the one reaching towards Gray’s heart to the one just peeking around his cheek. Makarov’s eyes widened. The spell had progressed that far already? Natsu, on the other hand, stayed silent. He already knew just how bad Gray’s condition had gotten. Porlyusica turned and grabbed a book from one of her bookshelves and began to read, flipping through pages every so often. The other three occupants of the room watched in silence. After a few minutes, Porlyusica closed the book and put it back. She then turned to her shelf full of herbs and mixtures and began taking some off the shelf. Gray’s heart leaped with joy. Could she cure him? She seemed to sense what Gray was thinking about because without turning around, she said, “This doesn’t cure you. I don’t know how to cure you. And I can’t help with your trances or loss of control over your magic.” At this, Gray’s face fell. “The only thing this will do is relieve you of a little of your pain for when that idiot Dragon Slayer touches you.” Natsu protested a little in the background but that small bit of good news was good enough for Gray. It felt so long since one of their brawls and Gray was itching to fight Natsu. Makarov stepped forward.

“Do you know what kind of spell was casted on Gray?” he asked. Porlyusica shook her head.

“As far as I know, it seems to be a controlling spell, but how it works, I don’t know. If it were a normal one, he would’ve long been under the control of that Angel Slayer you spoke of,” she answered. Natsu ground his teeth together. So he was right. That bitch wanted to use Gray to kill people. In some deep part of his subconscious, Natsu had probably always known that. He just didn’t want to believe it. Quietly, he excused himself from the room, knowing that Gray was staring at his retreating figure in confusion.

 

* * *

 

Gray quickly drank the repulsive concoction that Porlyusica had made. While it tasted like what could’ve very well been something out of a trash can, if it did what she claimed it would, he would gladly drink a thousand of them, just to have some small sense of normalcy back. Porlyusica turned back and handed the rest of the potion in a jar to him.

“Drink one cup of that daily after your breakfast. It should relieve the pain for the entire day.” Gray got off the bed and thanked the healer profusely. Porlyusica almost smiled, but then adapted her cold demeanor again.

“If you want to thank me, then get out of my house! Lousy humans!”

 

* * *

 

Natsu was waiting for the two outside. As they began to head towards the guild, Natsu began a conversation.

“So what did the old hag say?” Makarov chuckled while Gray grimaced.

“You better not let her hear you call her that. But she gave me some stuff so that I wouldn’t be in pain. She couldn’t help with anything else though.” Natsu nodded. Then, Gray punched him in the face. Natsu reeled back from the impact but grinned when he heard no gasp of pain from his rival. Charging forward, he returned the favour with a punch to the cheek. Gray smirked and continued the brawl with equal fervour. Makarov sweat dropped as he watched the two boys fight.

“Well, it’s probably better to get it out of their system. They’ll be fine,” he said as he began to walk away.

 

* * *

 

When the master returned to his guild alone, it was immediately concerning. Lucy and Erza rushed towards him.

“Master! Where are Natsu and Gray?” Lucy asked. Makarov laughed.

“Don’t worry. They’re just fighting. It’s been too long since they’ve had a brawl.” Erza’s eyes narrowed.

“But Natsu’s touch causes Gray pain...” she began.

“Porlyusica gave him something for the pain. She couldn’t do anything about his other problems though,” the master explained. The two girls nodded in understanding. While it wasn’t much, their friend was slowly getting better. Mirajane called out to them from behind the bar.

“Master, Erza, Lucy! The guild is going to close soon. You should head home.” Erza nodded.

“Thanks, Mirajane. I’ll be off then. Good night,” she said as she left the building. Lucy followed soon after. Makarov left soon after that. Mirajane sighed as she locked up the guild doors.

“I sure hope Gray is alright...”  


* * *

 

The sun was up before either Natsu or Gray knew it. The two had spent the entire night fighting each other, a much needed vent for both after so long of going without it. The two lay on their backs across from each other and watched the clouds go by as the breeze whistled through the cold autumn air. Natsu rolled over and sat up.

“It’s been too long since we’ve done that,” he grinned. Gray smirked and pushed himself up as well.

“Yeah. I’ve kind of missed it to be honest.”

“Oh? You’ve missed getting your ass kicked by me?”

“What was that you cocky bastard?”

                “You heard me ice princess!” The two glared at one another before laughing. Their usual banter felt so relieving now that things between them had eased somewhat. But Matilda’s words still echoed in Gray’s mind.

 

 _“They have roughly three days left._ You _have roughly three days left.”_

It had already been one day. He had two left. But two left until what?

“Gray? You ok?” Natsu asked. Gray shook himself out of his thoughts as he turned back to the pink haired mage.

“Yeah, I’m ok. C’mon, let’s go back to the guild.”


	9. Did It Work?

“Natsu! Gray! Good, we were starting to get worried,” Lucy exclaimed. Happy flew down and perched himself on Natsu’s head, whining that he had never come home that night and as a result, didn’t make Happy a fish to eat. Natsu apologised profusely to the cat and was only forgiven when Happy made him promise to buy him 10 fish tomorrow. Gray laughed. Speaking of food, he should probably eat breakfast. He made his way over to Mira’s bar.

“Good morning, Gray! What would you like?” the bartender asked cheerily. Gray smiled in return.

“Just something light today please, Mira-chan.” The Take-Over mage nodded as she began to cook. Erza took the seat next to him. Without looking back, Mira called out,

“Strawberry cake for you, Erza?” The redhead hummed in agreement. As Mira was busy preparing the food, Erza turned to Gray.

“How are you feeling today?” she asked. Gray yawned.

“A bit tired, but I’m not in any pain.” Erza nodded

“That’s good. I’m glad to hear it. Did you have a fight with Natsu?” Gray gulped. Should he say yes or no? He was pretty sure he would get beaten up if he said yes, but chances were that Erza already knew and then he would just get beaten up for saying no. So he took a chance and answered with a hesitant,

“Yes?” To his surprise, Erza nodded.

“Did it make you feel better?” Gray raised an eyebrow, but continued to answer truthfully.

“Yeah, it did. It made me forget that I have this weird circle on me.” Erza’s smile widened as she pulled him into a hug, which only served to injure his head. Erza only released Gray when Mirajane came back with their food.

“Strawberry cake and tea for Erza and a bowl of ramen and coffee for Gray,” she said sweetly. “Enjoy!” Gray grinned and immediately dug in while Erza grabbed her fork and cut a small piece of her cake, intending on savouring each bite. Gray quickly finished his meal and set about taking his medicine, if it could even be called that. The disgusting green liquid flowed viscously into the cup and Gray shuddered as did every Dragon Slayer in the guild.

“What is that shit?” Gajeel demanded as he plugged his nose. Wendy covered hers as well, almost gagging from the awful smell. Natsu rolled around on the floor, making a scene as he complained that the smell was going to burn his nostrils. Gray rolled his eyes but capped the jar and downed his drink. He made a face when he was done and asked Mirajane to give him a glass of water. Luckily, she already had one on hand.

“You looked like you would need it after that,” the platinum blonde explained. Gray gave her a grateful smile and eagerly emptied the glass. Erza had finished her cake by this time and was eyeing the potion jar the same way she would eye a beast.

“Is that... edible?” she asked. Gray shrugged. He wasn’t sure himself. But it gave him the ability to touch Natsu again without shrieking in agony so he didn’t complain. Said Dragon Slayer stopped rolling on the floor only to make his way over to the pair and began sniffing the jar cautiously.

“Is the old hag trying to kill you?” he shouted. Makarov laughed in the background.

“No...” Gray said, although his hesitance betrayed his point. The room suddenly swam and Gray had to place a hand on the countertop to steady himself. “Mira-chan, I’m going to go lie down in the back for a while. This shit is making my head spin.” The bartender nodded.

“Ok. Rest up, Gray.” Gray slid off his seat and made his way to the infirmary, Natsu following close behind. That raised a couple of eyebrows but no one said anything.

 

* * *

 

Once in the room, Gray’s knees buckled. He would’ve fallen onto the floor had Natsu not caught him. He laughed mirthlessly.

“Haha, thanks Flame Brain.” Natsu snorted.

“Any time, Ice Princess. Isn’t that stuff supposed to help you though?” Gray nodded tiredly.

“Who knows. Hey Natsu, can you put me on the bed? I need to take a nap...” he trailed off as his eyelids threatened to fall shut. Natsu picked the ice mage up bridal style laid him on the bed. Expectedly, Gray was fast asleep. Natsu sighed and began to take off the raven’s shirt. He wanted to take a look at the progression of the tendrils.

 

The tendrils had stretched out more, several now on Gray’s neck and chest. Natsu let himself collapse in the chair next to the bed and ran a hand through his messy pink hair. He was glad that Gray was resting but he still didn’t know how to deal with the main problem. He sighed. He would just sleep on it then.

 

* * *

 

Gray woke up to blinding light and uncomfortable warmth. He blinked blearily and found himself in familiar surroundings. He looked to his left and found a white curtain emblazoned with his guild’s symbol. He was in Fairy Tail’s infirmary then. Turning to his right, he was more than surprised to find Natsu sleeping in a chair. Gray raised an eyebrow. Then it all came rushing back; the dizziness, the sudden exhaustion and finally the welcoming darkness. Gray groaned in annoyance which was more than enough to wake Natsu up. One black orb peeked open before both were snapped open and their owner was on his feet next to the pale ice mage.

“Gray, are you ok?” he asked urgently. Natsu wouldn’t take the risk. Swallowing his surprise, Gray nodded faintly. Natsu’s eyes narrowed. He knew Gray was lying and any other time he would’ve just let his rival be, but not after what had happened only an hour earlier.

“Cut the crap. We both know that’s a lie. You aren’t the type of person who just collapses like that. But since you don’t want to tell me that, why don’t you tell me what happened instead?” he resigned, knowing that Gray knew exactly what he was talking about. A flinch flickered through the raven’s form before he raised his head to meet Natsu’s accusatory gaze. Taking a deep breath, Gray began to describe what had happened.

“I’m not too sure myself. I just drank the thing that Porlyusica gave me and then suddenly the room is upside down and I was insanely tired. I don’t know what’s going on anymore, Natsu.” The Dragon Slayer sighed. Gray wasn’t the only one who didn’t know what was going on.

 

Many minutes passed in silence. Natsu was about to stand up and leave the ice mage to rest when the air around Gray shifted. His head snapped to the side as he saw his friend with his eyes closed, an expression of intense discomfort on his features. Natsu hesitantly placed his hand on Gray’s shoulder. When Gray showed no signs of response, Natsu began to shake him. The only thing he got from his efforts was Gray opening his eyes.

 

Natsu almost wished he hadn’t.

 

Gray’s eyes had always been something that other people loved about him. They were such a deep endless blue that you could get yourself lost in them. But now, those endless depths of blue were clouded, tainted almost. They were so empty; devoid of any semblance of life. It scared Natsu. He had seen those eyes too many times already.  And he never wanted to see them again. Frantically, his shaking became rougher and rougher. When Gray still did nothing, Natsu panicked. He turned around and screamed for the master.

 

* * *

 

Makarov was in the room in an instant. After taking a glance at the teen on the bed, he hurriedly ordered Erza not to let anyone in and for Lucy to find Porlyusica. The blonde nodded and was out the door in a flash. The door to the guild closed with a slam at the same time the infirmary door eased closed with a click.

 

“Gray! Can you hear me? Gray!” the master tried as he gripped the boy’s shoulders tightly. Unfortunately, his efforts bore no fruit. The ice mage remained unresponsive. The temperature in the room seemed to skyrocket. Makarov turned back to Natsu, who had been standing next to the bed. One look at the Dragon Slayer’s eyes told him that Natsu was beyond furious. Just when Makarov thought that Natsu was going to snap, the fire mage’s eyes suddenly dilated. Following Natsu’s gaze, Makarov found himself looking at Gray’s face. The raven seemed to have adopted a sleepy look, his eyelids threatening to fall shut every few seconds. While Makarov didn’t think this was much of a problem, Natsu clearly did. The Dragon Slayer jumped and all but threw himself onto the bed, which Makarov only barely dodged, and pinned Gray down.

“Ice Bastard! Don’t you dare close your eyes! I mean it! Gray!” he half pleaded half ordered. Makarov shook his head and began to pry Natsu away from Gray.

“Natsu, let him rest. He needs it,” he attempted to reason. Natsu yanked himself out of the master’s hold.

“No!” he protested with a shout. “You don’t understand! You can’t _see_ it! Jii-chan, he’s giving up!” he screamed. The tendrils on Gray’s neck and chest squirmed again and stretched out, heading towards his left eye and heart. Makarov hesitantly let go. He couldn’t argue with the fact that he couldn’t see the marks on Gray’s body like Natsu could. Was Gray really losing to the spell? At that moment, the wooden door slammed open to reveal a cranky looking healer holding a small bag. She sighed as she made her way to the group. One look was all it took for her cold eyes to narrow. She turned to Makarov.

“You’re probably going to want to leave for this.” The master of Fairy Tail looked shocked for a minute before steeling himself and nodding. He turned towards the door. Before exiting, he called out, without turning back,

“Take care of him for me Porlyusica.” The pink haired healer didn’t show any sign of acknowledgement, but Makarov knew that he could count on her.

 

* * *

 

“Alright human, I’m going to need you to drink this again,” Porlyusica ordered as she held out the same red potion. This time, Natsu wasted no time gulping down the whole thing. Porlyusica raised an eyebrow. _He didn’t even whine about the taste. He must be really desperate._ Porlyusica hummed as she was cloaked in red light once again. Dilated red eyes peered down on the ice mage’s prone body. The healer clicked her tongue as she grabbed another concoction from her bag. This one was transparent and seemed to exude no odour, even when Porlyusica popped the cork off. She held it out to Natsu who looked at it in curiosity.

“Breathe some of your fire into it,” she ordered. Natsu raised an eyebrow but shot a tuft of fire into the flask. Instantly, the colour of the potion changed to bright red, bubbling and fizzing before settling. Porlyusica walked up to the side of the bed.

“Hold him down,” was all she said. Natsu scurried over to comply. Once he was sure that he had a secure hold on Gray, he nodded towards the healer. Porlyusica said nothing but tipped Gray’s mouth open and began to force him to drink it.

 

The reaction was immediate. Gray began to thrash about and it caught Natsu by surprise, throwing him off the bed. Porlyusica snarled at him.

“Stupid human! I said to hold him down!” she barked. Natsu shouted out a quick apology and resumed his task, this time making sure that he really did have a hold on Gray. It was still no easy feat. Gray was just as strong as Natsu and he came close to throwing Natsu off again more than a couple of times. Strangled screams of pain echoed through the room and there was no doubt in Natsu’s mind that the rest of the guild had heard them too. The flask was drained quickly, thankfully, and the only sound that could be heard in the room was the sound of Gray’s quick breathing. Porlyusica wiped sweat off of her brow as she began to pack her supplies into her bag. She noticed the jar of the medicine that she had given Gray last night lying on the floor and she bent down to pick it up.

“Did he drink that medicine today?” she asked. Natsu nodded, before realising that she wasn’t looking at him.

“Yes,” he said. Porlyusica’s brow furrowed as placed the container on the bedside table and muttered under her breath. However, quiet as it was, it wasn’t anything that Natsu’s enhanced hearing couldn’t pick up on. Natsu’s eyes widened as Porlyusica picked up her bag and left the room. Natsu calmed himself and sat back down in the seat next to the bed. He briefly grasped Gray’s hand in his own and gave it a light squeeze.

“Wake up, Gray,” he pleaded. He was pleasantly surprised when he heard a pained grumble come from the inhabitant of the bed. Natsu’s heart leapt to his throat. Would he have to stare into those dead eyes again? He didn’t think he could handle it if he had to.

* * *

 

Thankfully, he didn’t. Bright blue eyes stared back at him in mild confusion. Clearly, Gray had no idea what had happened, but Natsu didn’t care. The overwhelming sense of relief that flooded through him was a load off his shoulders. He gave his friend a bright smile.

“You’re awake, Gray!”


	10. Having A Chat

_Gray’s world was burning. He was surrounded by fire. He watched in fascination as they flickered and danced in front of him. Even after all these years of fighting Natsu and running into other fire mages on jobs, he had never truly taken the time to admire how beautiful fire could be. The purple flames soared in the air, dying the sky above him a deep shade of violet. The embers nicked at his skin, but surprisingly, it didn’t hurt. The fire was cold, much like his ice. He relished in the comfort and familiarity it brought. He sighed in contentment as he closed his eyes._

_He was harshly brought out of his relaxed state by scorching heat. He opened his eyes and found red fire. The new flames roared as they tried to overwhelm and quench the purple ones. In return, the violet fire soared higher than before, trying to smother the red blaze. The two opposing flames clashed, each fighting to reign over Gray’s world. Gray reached out to touch the flames only to bite back a scream as the red flames travelled up his arm, burning him. As if a cue had been given, the other red flames converged to where Gray was, surrounding him tightly in a ring of fire, giving off intense and familiar heat. Gray screamed as the red flames grew in intensity and began to go from burning to scorching. A weak plea left his lips as he begged to be saved from this fiery hell._

_“ **Help... I can’t...”** _

 

“ **Wake up, Gray.”** _Gray’s head shot up in confusion. Wasn’t he already awake? Not to mention, the voice sounded like it was Natsu’s. He had never heard the Dragon Slayer sound so desperate before. He let out a sigh as the red inferno around him grew. The pain had lessened now, for whatever reason. He didn’t know what had caused that, but whatever it was, he was grateful. Before long, the red flames grew enough that they obscured everything else in sight, including its purple counterpart. Gray closed his eyes and let the flames wash over him, swallowing him in their fury._

* * *

 

The first thing that occurred to him was an incredible sense of déjà vu; the blinding light and uncomfortable temperature. He looked up and found Natsu grinning at him like an idiot.

“You’re awake, Gray!” Natsu exclaimed. Gray rubbed his head and sat up.

“What happened?” he asked. Natsu’s bright grin dimmed a bit as he recounted the events that had happened just prior to Gray’s awakening. When Natsu finished, Gray only nodded in understanding. At this point, he wasn’t even surprised anymore. More than anything, he wanted to be free of this stupid spell. But after so long and even Porlyusica not knowing how to cure it, he doubted that it was even possible.  Natsu’s voice interrupted Gray’s thoughts.

“Gray, I need to tell you something.” The mage on the bed raised an eyebrow at Natsu’s serious tone. Nevertheless, he kept his questions to himself and allowed Natsu to continue.

“She… Matilda Mueller… I know what that spell does,” he managed. Gray’s eyes widened. The way Natsu said it made him think that the Dragon Slayer had known for some time now. Holding in his anger, he waited for Natsu to continue.

 

Natsu bit his lip hard, making it bleed. He didn’t want to tell Gray, but he felt that the ice mage had a right to know. Even so, he would rather be doing anything else in the world right now. Taking a shuddering breath, Natsu breathed out,

“She’s going to use you to kill people, Gray.”

 

Gray felt the air get sucked out of his lungs. He was going to… _kill_ people? No, no! That wasn’t right! Fairy Tail mages didn’t kill! There was no way he would do that. Then he remembered the words of Porlyusica back at her clinic.

 

_“As far as I know, it seems to be a controlling spell…”_

Gray fell back on the bed with a puff. Natsu was instantly on his feet, making sure his friend wasn’t relapsing into one of his trances. Thankfully, he wasn’t, but the tortured look in Gray’s deep blue eyes wasn’t much better either. Deciding it was time that he left, Natsu quietly bade Gray farewell and left him to get some rest.

* * *

 

Natsu leaned back on the door to Gray’s room. The words that Porlyusica had muttered echoed in his head over and over.

 

                _“It’s progressed too far. My potions and I can’t help him anymore…”_

                He punched the wall with a roar of rage. He wouldn’t give up on Gray damnit! He was going to save that damn Ice Block and when he did, he was going to rub it in Matilda Mueller’s face that he was the better Slayer! After kicking her ass, of course. An armoured hand gripped his shoulder and Natsu found himself looking into Erza’s concerned brown eyes with her tell-me-everything look.  The rest of the guild watched the interaction in curiosity. With a sigh, Natsu led Erza outside with Lucy and Happy trailing after her. The rest of the guild couldn’t help but feel a little left out of the loop, but understood that it was a sensitive topic to their team and decided to let them have their privacy. But that didn’t mean that they weren’t going to ask when the four mages came back inside.

* * *

 

                “She _WHAT_?!” Erza raged. Lucy and Happy covered her ears and a flock of birds nesting in a nearby tree flew off in fear of the great Titania. Erza scowled, a dark look on her beautiful face.   “She’s dead the next time I see her. If you smell her, Natsu, bring me along so I can punch her lights out.” Natsu responded with a grunt but everyone present knew that that was a yes. Natsu was just as pissed as Erza was. Suddenly, Natsu’s head perked up and he sniffed the air in confusion. Lucy cocked her head to the side.

                “What is it, Natsu?” The Dragon Slayer’s expression hardened as he shot off towards the west. Erza was left dumbfounded for a moment before requipping into her Flight Armour and chasing after him. Lucy sighed and began to jog after them, calling feebly for them to slow down or wait.

 

                Natsu came to a stop in front of a deserted alley. Frowning, he sniffed the air once again. He was sure that he had smelled a certain someone. Hesitantly, he stepped into the alley, searching for any signs of _her_. Erza followed and Lucy joined the pair. Natsu stopped just before the alley came to an end and watched in astonishment as the air in front of him shimmered and none other than the Fire Angel Slayer appeared before him.

 

                Natsu growled as he charged forward with an enflamed fist. Matilda simply closed her eyes and the rest of the people in the alley watched in shock as Natsu passed _through_ Matilda. Natsu turned around and tried time after time to land a hit on his enemy. Matilda threw her head back and laughed.

                “You’re wasting your time, _Dragon Slayer_ ,” she taunted with disdain. “You won’t hit me.” A tick mark appeared on Natsu’s forehead. He was so caught up in his rage that he didn’t notice that Matilda’s smell had faded and a new, stronger smell was present.

                “What was that, you bitch?! I’ll show you who can’t hit who!” he exclaimed as he moved to charge in again, only to be stopped by Erza. Natsu looked back in anger. “Erza! Let go! Why are you stopping me?!” he demanded. Erza stayed silent as she strode forward, meeting the green haired mage. After engaging in a short staring contest, Erza quickly brought out a magic sword and began to slash at the other mage’s form. However, like Natsu, none of her attacks hit. Erza took a step back and closed her left eye. Her fake eye narrowed as she sent her weapon back to her pocket of space.

                “As I thought...” she began, “You’re not really here. You’re an illusion.” Lucy turned to Erza in shock and Natsu scowled. Matilda laughed.

                “Congratulations on finally figuring it out, Titania. Though I never would have guessed you had a fake eye. What happened to your real one?” she asked, seemingly innocent. Erza grit her teeth.

                “That is none of your business. Now why don’t you tell us why you appeared to us?” Matilda smiled a sweet smile.

                “I simply came to run an errand. Is that so wrong, Fairy Tail?” Natsu scoffed.

                “Cut the crap. We all know that you aren’t here to just run an errand. There’s no point in lying; you might as well tell us what you’re really here for.” Matilda felt her eyebrow twitch but she was determined to remain calm.

“Very well. I came to check up on dear Gray and possibly to get rid of you. After all, _Dragon Slayer_ , you’ve been getting in my way quite a bit.” All three mages cast a dark look in the illusion’s direction. Matilda laughed.

“Those are some interesting looks you all have on your faces. If I didn’t know any better, I would say that you lot were the dark mages!” _That_ pissed them off. Before Matilda could blink, she had a magic sword at her throat.

“Listen here, you disgusting bitch,” Erza spat, “If you come anywhere near Gray or Natsu I will personally send you to the depths of Hell where you belong. Don’t you dare come anywhere near my family!” Matilda took a step back, away from the weapon. Even though she wasn’t really there, the sheer intensity of Titania’s anger was more than intimidating. Matilda cleared her throat.

“In any case, I’m off. You have two days, Fairy Tail. Gray knows _all_ about it. Toodles!” she chirped as she disappeared into thin air. Immediately, Natsu and Erza turned on their heels and began marching back towards the guildhall. Lucy followed nervously. 

“Uhh guys? I think you need to calm down...” Neither of them turned back but both answered the Celestial mage in unison.

“We need to talk to Gray.”


	11. Lost And Found

Gray looked up as the door to his room in the infirmary flew off its hinges, revealing an angry Dragon Slayer, a livid Titania and a worried Lucy and Happy. Gray raised an eyebrow as his two childhood friends marched in unison up to his bedside. Under the intensity of their glares, Gray inched backwards a bit. Erza was the first to break the silence.

 

“What’s this about having two days left, Gray? And don’t tell me you don’t know because we all know that’s a lie.” Gray gulped. How had she found out? He turned to Natsu. No... he had never told Natsu anything about the time limit. So how...

“Matilda showed up,” Natsu reported bluntly. Gray’s eyes widened.

“Shit.” Gray covered his face with his palm and slid it down as he looked each occupant of the room in the eye before sighing. “Can you put the door back, Lucy? I don’t want the others to hear this.”

 

* * *

 

“So we have two days, including today, to figure out how to counteract the spell, right?” Erza confirmed after hearing everything knew about the time limit. Gray nodded. Erza’s armoured fist clenched with an audible _clank_. The temperature in the room spiked and Natsu let out an animalistic growl. Erza slapped the Dragon Slayer upside the head and the temperature returned to normal. Gray sighed and let himself fall back on the bed. He turned so that he was facing the wall opposite to his friends.

“Sorry guys... but do you mind leaving? I kind of want to be alone right now...” Lucy opened her mouth to protest and Erza opened hers to say that it wasn’t like him to request that of them, but to their surprise, Natsu simply nodded and left the room wordlessly. Shocked by the uncharacteristic show of behaviour, the rest of them followed Natsu and closed the door behind them. Gray sighed and rolled over so that he was lying on his back with his forearm covering his eyes. He thought back to his encounters with Matilda.

 

 _“_ You _are going to be the main instrument in your own guild’s demise,”_

_“You’re going to be my trump card in my assault on Fairy Tail.”_

“Damnit... Am I really going to kill them?”

* * *

 

Outside, in the middle of the guild, Erza was scolding Natsu while the rest of the guild members watched in fear.

“Why did you leave him, Natsu?! We all know that that’s the last thing we should be doing right now!” She grabbed a hold of Natsu’s beloved muffler and yanked him closer to her. She wouldn’t let the likes of that Angel Slayer get a hold of her younger brother. Not if she had anything to say about it. Natsu grabbed onto Erza’s wrist, laughing internally with nostalgia when he realised that this was exactly how he had confronted Gray back on Galuna Island.

“This is for his own good, Erza. Trust me.” Erza let her grip on Natsu falter and eventually let go of his wrist and Natsu in turn let go of hers. The rest of the guild was silent. They had wanted to ask about what was going on with Gray since the three mages and Exceed had exited the guild roughly an hour ago, but now everyone was afraid to ask. Lucy had her hands covering her mouth, shocked that the two childhood friends were fighting, even more so because Natsu wasn’t shaking in fear of the great Erza’s wrath. Natsu turned and walked out of the guild, Happy flying awkwardly beside him. Erza scowled as she too exited the guild, a terrifying expression distorting her beautiful features. The rest of the guild turned towards the room where their ice mage was supposedly resting. Anyone who knew Gray knew that he didn’t like to be kept down for long. So it was with a creeping fear that Lucy gently knocked on the door that she had closed not minutes ago.

“Gray? Can I come in?” she asked softly. When she was met with no response, she panicked and slammed the door open. When she found a lump of raven hair resting on the pillow, she breathed a sigh of relief. She sighed and closed the door again. Immediately, Gray threw the covers off of himself and moved the chair next to the bed so that it was under the only window in the room. Turning back with a final glance at the door, he whispered,

“Sorry, Lucy.”

* * *

 

The sun had just started to set when Natsu and Happy and Erza returned to the guild. All laughter and conversation in the guild died slowly as the two of them walked up to the bar and sat down next to each other. The tension between the two mages was obviously still there and had not decreased in the slightest. Lucy came up to the two almost fearfully and tried to help patch things up.

“Come on guys. You’re both looking out for Gray’s well being. Erza, Natsu can see more than us and he knows better than anyone what Gray’s condition is like right now,” she paused and turned to Natsu, “Natsu, Erza is just doing what she thinks is best. We’re at a disadvantage here without your eyesight. Come on you two, make up.” Erza sighed as she placed a hand to her temple before turning to the Dragon Slayer watching her actions.

“Lucy’s right. My apologies, Natsu. You know best in this situation.” Lucy smiled in Erza’s direction then glared in Natsu’s as the pink haired mage had yet to reply.

“Yeah... I guess I should have told you why I was doing what I did. I’m sorry too Erza.” Lucy beamed with joy. Erza brought Natsu down for a hug, only for his head to clang painfully against her chest plate. The rest of the guild visibly relaxed when they found that all the tension between their Salamander and Titania had dissipated. When Erza had released Natsu from her “hug”, Natsu sat up and turned to Lucy.

“How’s Gray?” he asked. Lucy put her finger to her chin.

“I’m not sure actually. I checked up on him right after you guys left. He was asleep.” She turned to face the other members of the guild. “Has anyone checked on Gray?” It was Cana who spoke up.

“No one’s gone in there except for you and Gray hasn’t come out at all either.” Natsu and Erza stood up from their barstools.

“He’s slept for the majority of the day. It’s time for him to wake up,” Erza said as she approached the door and turned the knob. She was surprised when it didn’t budge. She rattled the knob again, only for it to break off from the rest of the door due to her immense strength and her impatience. The onlookers sweat dropped. Finally, Erza kicked the door down and Lucy and Natsu moved away from her in fear. Erza looked straight up demonic. And no one thought it possible, but right after she took a glance at the bed and the open window, Erza seemed to grow even scarier. Lucy shivered. She swore she could see hellfire rising up from behind the requip mage. Poor Wendy hid behind Romeo, who blushed at the thought but then remembered his fear. Erza spoke quietly, despite her rage.

“Gray is missing.” The guild’s members all jolted at that. Gray was missing? In his condition? Natsu was out the door in a minute with Happy flying after him. Lucy summoned Loke to help with the search and once they were informed of the situation, the two headed out to look for the ice mage in earnest. The rest of the guild quickly followed and spread out, using Warren’s telepathy to guide them in their search.

* * *

 

Lucy leaned down and rested her hands on her knees as she tried to catch her breath after looking for Gray for hours. The sun had long since set and no one had even an inkling as to where the raven had disappeared to. Lucy straightened as she felt the telepathic link surge to life again.

 _“Has anyone found Gray yet?”_ Erza’s concerned voice resounded in her mind. A chorus of negative responses flooded her mind and left her ears ringing for a bit, especially when a boisterous Dragon Slayer screamed that he was going to “flay that idiot Ice Princess alive”. With a sigh, she felt the telepathic link fizzle out into a dull hum again and she continued running down the path that she was on. Where could Gray be? With all the members of the guild searching Magnolia, there was no way that one of them hadn’t found him yet! Lucy stopped in her tracks. Magnolia? What if Gray wasn’t in Magnolia anymore? It would make sense that no one could find him. Quickly, she strengthened her link and tried to control the volume of her voice.

“Everyone! What if Gray isn’t in Magnolia anymore?” She was met with a tense silence from everybody. Loke’s voice cut in as he seemed to realise something.

 _“Lucy! I’m coming to where you are! I think I might know where he is!”_ The rest of the guild demanded to know where it was that the two of them were headed but Erza’s voice cut in.

 _“Enough! We don’t know if Gray is really where Loke thinks he is. If he’s not, then what’s the point of having everyone gather in one area?”_ The others fell silent. No one could argue with that logic. Just then, Loke arrived. Lucy let out a cry of surprise and another as she was scooped up in Loke’s arms. She pounded on his chest while a deep red blush settled over her face.

“Loke! What are you doing?!” she demanded, flustered. For once, the playboy’s signature smirk when he carried her like this was not on his face. Instead he was grim. Lucy stopped hitting him just as he started to run through the street.

“You’re tired aren’t you, Princess? This way, we’ll get to Gray faster,” he explained as he dodged several pedestrians and continued out of Magnolia into the forest. Lucy watched the tree pass by in a blur and looked up at Loke’s expression. The lion spirit was barely keeping his composure in front of his master and Lucy remembered that the two had been close, even before she came to the guild. Lucy tightened her grip on Loke’s suit jacket. Loke looked down in surprise.

“We’ll find him, Loke. Don’t worry.” Loke smiled as he continued to run, now nearing where he thought Gray might be.

“Yeah.”

* * *

 

Finally, the two of them reached a clearing in the forest. As Loke suspected, there, standing in the middle of the clearing, staring at the star filled sky, was none other than Gray, albeit shirtless. Loke carefully let Lucy down. He opened his mouth to speak when Gray cut him off.

“Should have known you’d find me, Loke,” he muttered without turning around. Loke scoffed and narrowed his eyes.

“After all these years of knowing you, do you really think that I wouldn’t know where you enjoyed hiding?” he asked, his tone accusatory. Gray grit his teeth and whirled around in rage.

“I’m not hiding, Loke!” he snarled. The playboy simply glared.

“That’s right, Gray. You’re not hiding. You’re _running_. Running away from us, your family! Have you lost it?! The Gray Fullbuster I know doesn’t run from his problems; he faces them head on and defeats them!” Lucy watched the exchange fearfully. She knew better than to interfere, this was a moment between two best friends, but with the way this was going, she might have to step in and calm the two boys down. Gray bowed his head, his bangs casting a shadow over his eyes. His hands that were until now calmly at his side were now clenched tight into fists and shaking with rage beside his body. He kept his eyes down as he responded,

“You have no idea. If you knew then you would want me to leave too!” Loke and Lucy were taken back. They had never seen Gray so despaired and bitter. Lucy steeled herself and took a step forward.

“Gray... there’s no way we would ever want you to leave. We’re your _nakama_ , your family! I don’t know how to counteract the spell yet but we’ll figure something out.” She walked forward, step by step until she was an arm’s length away from Gray. When she reached out to touch him, Gray flinched and moved away from her.

“N-No... stay away Lucy!” he shouted putting his hands in front of him to try and maintain some distance. Lucy tried to mask her hurt and continued to advance. Gray moved away from Lucy, still trying to keep her away from him. His deep blue eyes were terrified and darted around nervously. Lucy took notice of this and slowed down but did not stop moving. But Gray’s fear did not quell in the slightest. Lucy placed her hands on her hips.

“What are you so afraid of? We both know that you won’t kill anyone!” she shouted. Gray shook his head furiously and backed away.

“Stay away! I don’t want to hurt you!” he pleaded. Lucy frowned as she continued to press forward and Gray continued to avoid her. Until he bumped into something soft behind him. He whipped around in horror as he realised that Lucy had advanced in such a way that forced him to bump into Loke. Before he could get further away from the pair, he felt a sudden impact on the back of his neck and slumped forward, only to be caught by Loke. The strawberry blond sighed as he propped Gray onto his back so that he was piggybacking him. He shot Lucy a grin and a wink.

“Mission accomplished, Princess.”


	12. Attack

_An inhumane cry pierced the air. A young girl watched in hiding, tears cascading down her cheeks as she watched the ferocious battle unfold in front of her. She sniffled as she struggled to keep quiet like her mother had ordered her to._

_Another scream of pain erupted from the battle. The purple blaze that had obscured most of the battle from the child’s view faded and revealed to the girl everything that had happened. In her mother’s wings were jagged pieces of ice, pinning her painfully to the ground. Her mother’s normally pristinely white gown was covered in blood. A man dressed in armour stood over her, a sword of ice pointed at her throat._

_“It’s the end of the line, demon.” The girl wanted to run out and scream; that her mother wasn’t a demon, she wasn’t evil and she didn’t deserve this. But one fiery glare in her direction was enough to silence the terrified child. The man lifted his sword to the air, readying it to strike. The girl clamped her eyes shut and covered her mouth while the woman lying on the ground simply closed her eyes in acceptance._

_…_

_And then it was over. The girl fell to her knees and sobbed wretchedly into her hands, muffling any noises that threatened to escape her. The man’s sword disintegrated into nothing and he turned away, muttering something quiet. But the girl’s enhanced hearing had no trouble hearing it._

_“That’s what you get, demon. That was for my family.” For his family, huh? The girl’s traumatised violet eyes widened and then narrowed in rage. Then it was for_ her _family that she would take her own revenge. After all, he hadn’t killed a demon. He had killed an angel._

* * *

 

Matilda jolted awake, taking deep breaths. After so long, the memory of her past still haunted her. It had been years since that day, but the memories were vivid as if it had only happened yesterday.

 

Steven burst into her room, panting. He took one look at Matilda and his eyes softened. He made his way over and sat next to her on the bed.

“You still dream of that?” Matilda stubbornly shook her head to the side, not facing the man. Steven sighed and stood up. “You should try to go back to sleep,” he said as he exited the room. Matilda took one deep breath as she calmed herself down from the fear induced high of the nightmare.  Thinking back on the memory and then on the present, she smiled. Soon. She would have her revenge very soon.

* * *

 

When Lucy was in range of Warren’s telepathy again, she immediately reported that she and Loke had found the ice mage and were currently on their way back to the guild. There were many sighs of relief as the rest of the guild returned as well. Loke shifted Gray on his back so that he was more comfortable and immediately rushed him to the infirmary when they arrived back at the guild hall.

 

When Natsu and Erza returned, they had insisted on seeing Gray first. But Mirajane blocked them as did Makarov.

“Gray needs to rest right now. You two yelling at him for being an idiot is not going to help that,” Mirajane said. The master nodded in agreement.

“Let’s all wait until morning. You two will be the first to know when he wakes up.” The two were upset, but left without much argument, mainly because Erza wouldn’t allow Natsu to argue. Before Mira and Makarov left as well, Makarov pulled Freed aside.

“I want you to draw runes on the infirmary door. Make it so that Gray can’t escape. Even from the windows.” The rune mage nodded and set out to work. When he finished, he nodded in Makarov’s direction and left for the night. The old man sighed as he left for the night as well, a tight feeling in his chest that something was going to go wrong. A pair of lavender eyes watched him leave.

* * *

 

The next morning, Natsu and Happy burst into the guild the same time Mira started getting everything ready. She turned, surprised at her company so early in the morning.

“Natsu, Happy, good morning. What brings you two here so early?” Natsu answered her question by storming up to the infirmary door and banging on it as loud as he could.

“Gray! Open up! Damnit Snowflake, open the door!” Mira sighed as she continued to cook and wipe the bar surface. When the door didn’t open, Natsu got angry and kicked it down. Mira sighed. The amount of doors they had broken in the past little while was absurd. She resumed her task of preparing food and booze.

 

Natsu found Gray sitting up and staring into his lap. Enraged, he grabbed Gray’s necklace and yanked him close to his face. Gray looked up blearily, lifeless eyes gazing into Natsu’s furious ones. Teeth bared, Natsu screamed at him.

“What the fuck were you thinking?! What if we hadn’t found you?!” he demanded. Gray frowned.

“Then you wouldn’t have to worry about anything. You shouldn’t have come after me.” Natsu’s eyes widened and he gripped the necklace harder.

“What are you saying, Shitty Stripper?” he snarled. “Are you telling me that we shouldn’t have tried to help you?!” Gray looked away and that was all the answer Natsu needed. Natsu clicked his tongue, let go of Gray’s necklace then punched him in the cheek, causing him to fall onto the bed. Gray made no move to retaliate. Happy tried to calm Natsu down and talk sense with Gray.

“Gray... we all care about you. There’s no way that we would just leave you.” Without looking up, the raven responded,

“You still should’ve.”

Natsu’s anger exploded.

“Droopy eyed bastard! Get it through your thick skull that we’re your family and we’re going to protect you!” Gray flinched and rose to meet Natsu’s gaze. Now, to Natsu’s horror, the tendrils had spanned over Gray’s entire body and were now squirming. Natsu took a step back. What the hell? How had the marks progressed so quickly? As if not noticing Natsu’s surprise, Gray continued to speak.

“How can you protect me against myself?” he accused. Natsu was shocked speechless. Happy moved towards the bed.

“Gray...” he began. But Gray was having none of it. Ice flew from him, leaving an arc on the floor right in front of Happy.

“Leave me alone!” he roared. Reluctantly, Happy backed away. Natsu, however, stayed where he was.

“We aren’t going to let her get to you. Even if she does, we’ll get you back. I promise.” Gray frowned and spat out distastefully,

“She’s already got me. Today’s the last day.” Natsu grabbed onto Gray’s forearm angrily, his body heat rising causing Gray to flinch at the heat.

“Then like I said, I’ll bring you back. I won’t let her use you to kill people, Gray.” The mage on the bed sighed as the light returned to his eyes and the tendrils stopped their squirming.

“Thanks... Flame Brain.”

* * *

 

Erza was next to “visit” the ice mage. She stormed in through the hole where the door used to be and stopped when the noticed the arc of ice on the floor. Taking care to step over it, she stopped in front of Gray, an utterly furious expression on her face.

“What were you thinking?! You couldn’t go anywhere in your condition!” Gray scooted farther away from the terrifying Titania and attempted to explain himself.

“I didn’t want to hurt you guys. I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if I did. Erza, you understand right?” The scarlet scowled but remained silent. She knew that Gray was the type of person to push himself to protect his family; heck _everyone_ in Fairy Tail was like that. She had no real right to reprimand him when she herself would have done the exact same in a heartbeat. She sighed.

“Even so, you should have told us. We’re your family. I’m sure you’ve heard it from Natsu, but we’re all here for you.” Gray nodded and rubbed his eyes. The room suddenly felt blurry and he slowly lay back down.

“Hey guys… I feel tired. Could you guys leave please?” Natsu was about to retort that the last time they had done that Gray had attempted his great escape. But Gray was already asleep and Erza bad placed her hand on Natsu’s shoulder.

“Freed has put up runes so that he can’t escape the room. It should be fine this time.” Natsu huffed but followed Erza out the door shaped hole with Happy flying after the two.

* * *

 

The guild asked Laki to replace the door, which she easily did. It was much more convenient than hiring someone to install a premade door. However, Laki’s design was a little more than questionable.

“…Are those spikes?” Lucy asked hesitantly, as she inspected the door, taking care not to get poked by anything. Laki nodded enthusiastically.

“Umm… that’s the face on the Iron Maiden, isn’t it?” Wendy asked. Again, Laki nodded, eyes gleaming with joy. Everyone sweat dropped.

 

Suddenly, the guild doors were slammed open. Everyone groaned. Not another door gone to ruin! But the guild was instantly on alert when a mass of mages dressed in purple and black stood in their entryway. Leading them was a familiar green haired woman. Natsu was on his feet instantly, growling.

“Matilda!” A smug grin from the Angel Slayer was the last thing Natsu saw before his vision swam and he was falling towards the ground.


	13. Falcons vs Fairies

Natsu’s eyes snapped open as he jumped to his feet, fists already enveloped in scorching flames. He was surrounded by enemies. His guildmates were nowhere in sight. He growled. Matilda was going to have to answer to him if she dared to lay a single finger on any of his guildmate’s heads. Leaping forward, he unleashed his flames on the poor mages who had decided to attack his _nakama_.

 

* * *

 

 Lucy woke up to an intense heat. She remembered passing out on the floor after the guild’s doors had been slammed open. She looked around the hall. Members of Fatal Falcon were everywhere, none of them moving except for one. The one mage that was moving had fire surrounding him, burning away at the guild. Lucy clenched her fists in anger. How dare they attack her home? Grabbing two keys from her pouch, she called forth one of her spirits.

“Open gate of the Scorpion! Scorpio!” In a flash of light, the spirit appeared. He instantly took in the enemy and sprang into action, noting that this wasn’t the time for pleasantries.

“Sand Buster!” Scorpio cried as the attack hit the fire mage.

 

* * *

 

Natsu was pushed back when he was hit by a sand attack. Growling, he sent a Fire Dragon’s Roar in return. The mage dodged and continued to attack him. Natsu let out a fierce battle cry and charged to meet his opponent…

 

…only to fall into a deep pitfall. Natsu yelped as he landed and stood up, only to be showered by sand and rubble, undoubtedly from the digging process. Before he knew it, he was neck deep in sand. He spewed fire from his mouth in rage.

“Bastards! Wait until I get out of here! I’ll skin all of you alive!”

 

* * *

 

Lucy rolled her eyes at her opponent’s antics. She had watched Scorpio take the mage down and had quickly called out Virgo to create a pitfall. Needless to say, she was pleased with the results. However, the mage’s coarse language was vaguely reminiscent of Natsu’s. Lucy allowed herself a quick laugh before setting out to attack the other intruders, who had begun to move and were attacking.

* * *

 

Dark blue eyes opened lazily as they peeked past their owner’s eyelids. The room was deserted. He was about to push himself off the bed when he heard a voice in his head.

 

_“Hello dear Gray, how are you?”_

 

“ _Who is this?”_

_“Not important. But what I need for you to do is to close your eyes for a minute and go back to sleep.”_

_“Why?”_ Blue eyes glazed over as he felt himself want to lie back down like the voice in his head was telling him to. The small part of him that still resisted was insistent on an answer from the mysterious voice.

 

_“Again, you ask too make questions, Gray. Just do as I say.”_

_“...Understood.”_

 

Matilda cut her connection to the ice mage and grinned, knowing that when the ice mage next awoke, he would be on her side. She watched her plan unfold from a rafter in the guild. She grinned at the scene she was bestowed with. Years and years of revenge and hatred, all manifested in this battle! It was the best moment of her life. She jumped down from her hiding place and made her way to the door that held her puppet. Quickly, she destroyed the room that caged her ally. The runes were no longer in effect if the room itself didn’t exist. From the rubble, Gray slowly opened his eyes ands rose up, unharmed and blue eyes blank. The purple tendrils that covered the ice mage’s toned body glowed brightly. The same magic circle that had been branded into his neck was now imprinted in his left eye. Matilda grinned at her handiwork. She was one step closer to seeing her plan come to fruition. 

* * *

 

Erza shook her head as she tried to shake off the remaining throes of sleep. Just before passing out on the second floor, she had felt something similar to the feeling when Mystogan used to enter the guild. But no, Mystogan was in Edolas now and all Anima had been destroyed; it couldn’t have been him. Leaning over the edge of the balcony, she took in the chaos that was Fairy Tail’s guild hall. Enemy mages filled the room, not a single guild member in sight. But what tipped Erza off was that the enemies were fighting _each other_. Erza frowned. She closed her left eye. The sight she was greeted with shocked her.

 

Her guildmates, her _family_ was fighting each other, expressions of utter hate on their faces. She watched in horror as Lucy’s spirit Scorpio sent Max flying. Elfman’s Beast Soul slammed into Wakaba but not before the latter’s Smoke Rush landed many hits on the Take Over mage. Thankfully, Makarov was nowhere to be seen in the chaos. Erza let out a sigh of relief. If the Master had taken part in this... whatever it could be called, the whole guild would have gone up in flames. Speaking of flames, she didn’t see Natsu anywhere. Nor did she Gray. Or any real enemies for that matter. But that was the farthest thought from her mind as she backed away in horror. This had to be a dream, no a nightmare! Her _nakama_ were trying to kill each other! Just when she was about to jump over the balcony and demand that the fighting stop, she sensed a presence behind her. She turned around and jumped away just before a torrent of pressurized water shot her way. Her first thought was Juvia, but that thought was immediately proven wrong when her enemy materialised in front of her.

“Titania Erza Scarlet,” he greeted. Erza requipped a magic sword and held it at the ready.

“You were with Fatal Falcon.”

“Glad I left an impression. I must say, I didn’t believe Matilda when she told me that you had a fake eye.” Erza’s brown eyes narrowed. For everyone to be fighting each other without realising that they were harming their own _nakama_ and for the spell not to affect Erza could only mean one thing.

 

Illusion magic.

 

“I see you’ve figured it out. I should have seen this coming to be honest. The wider the affected area, the looser and weaker the magic is cast. It was probably not a hard task for you to see through my illusion.”

“You were the reason why Gray attacked Natsu back at our hotel.”

“Indeed I was.”

“You were also the reason why the townspeople didn’t know anything about Fatal Falcon and why the mayor wanted us gone so quickly. You disguised yourselves to the townspeople and then us to the mayor with your illusions.”

“Right again, my dear Titania. You’re quite intelligent aren’t you?” Erza didn’t deign that with an answer. Instead she shifted her body so that she was ready to charge.

“How dare you… how dare you pit my family against each other and deceive innocent people?! You’re going to regret the day you were born you bastard!” the scarlet seethed. The orange haired man in front of her grinned.

“It’s all for Matilda’s plan. I don’t care what happens to your pathetic guild.” Erza strained to keep calm.

“What is your name?”

“Steven Broderik. I fought with your Salamander last we met. I do hope you entertain me better than he did, Titania!” The two charged, ready to destroy the enemy that threatened their guilds.

* * *

 

Natsu spat sand out of his mouth and crawled out the pitfall. He was finally free! Just when he was about to join the fight, he caught whiff of a scent he vowed never to forget. It was the scent of someone who hard hurt his _nakama_ and sent his best friend into a never ending hell. He roared as he shot himself in the direction of the smell.

“ _Matilda!_ ” Natsu stopped when he found himself staring at the object of his hatred as well as who he was trying to protect standing next to each other. The evil mage grinned as she brought Gray closer to her and the raven complied. Natsu gawked.

“Gray? What are you doing?” he asked uncertainly. The ice mage didn’t respond and Matilda cackled. Natsu felt his flames surge up from within him, hotter than they ever were before.

“WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO HIM YOU BITCH?!” Matilda flashed him a winning smile.

“Why, I’ve only done what I planned to from the beginning. Gray Fullbuster is under my complete control, _Dragon Slayer_.”

Natsu couldn’t hold himself back anymore. He launched himself at the Angel Slayer when Gray came into his view. The raven punched him in the face and Natsu was sent to the floor, now sporting a swollen cheek. Matilda laughed.

“That’s right, Gray. Kill the _Dragon Slayer_ ,” she goaded, her voice dripping with disdain when she spoke the last two words. Natsu growled and picked himself up off the floor.

“What the hell do you have against Dragon Slayers, huh?! What have we done to you that made you hate us so much?!” Matilda’s expression morphed from amused into livid. She shot a blast of purple fire in the Dragon Slayer’s direction, to which he dodged, remembering the awful taste of those flames.

“You wouldn’t understand! You didn’t have everything you held dear taken away from you in front of your eyes!” She turned back to her puppet.

“Gray, kill him! Don’t leave any trace of him left for anyone to find! We’ll see how Fairy Tail crumbles without their precious Salamander and ice mage!” 

* * *

 

Erza jumped back to avoid a blast of scalding water. She scowled as she requipped her weapon to exchange her normal sword to her lance from her Thunder Empress Armour. They had not been fighting for long, but it was obvious that Steven was a tougher opponent than she had expected. The man’s movements were like water, fluid and beautiful. It was close to impossible to land a hit on him. But Erza could not afford to lose this fight. This man was turning her family against each other and that was something that she would not allow.

“Requip! Sea Empress Armour!” she announced. Steven let out an appreciating whistle.

“I have to say, Titania, I didn’t think your armour was this… revealing.” Erza glared hard at her opponent.

“You should pay less attention to what I’m wearing and more attention to your defense…” she trailed off. In the blink of an eye, she was gone. Steven was taken back but regained his composure and searched for the scarlet haired knight. A voice from behind him made him shiver.

“You’re full of openings.” He felt a searing pain across his back and he staggered. He laughed.

“As expected of the great Erza Scarlet. But if you think I’m going down without a fight, you’re wrong! Matilda makes me stronger! Stronger than you!” The man sent a whip of water flying towards Erza as the Queen of Fairies narrowed her eyes and prepared her counter attack.

* * *

 

Natsu ducked underneath a kick that Gray had aimed at his head and tried to grab hold of the limb. Unfortunately, Gray caught on and shot ice at him, forcing him to dodge. His feet and hands scraped along the floor as he glared up at his opponent. Fighting Gray was no easy task, more so when the ice mage was completely serious, even if not of his own volition. The one thing that was good about Natsu’s situation was that he had fought with Gray so many times for so many years that he knew exactly how the raven thought and acted in a fight, from the rhythm of his breathing to the way his foot pivoted to 1 o’clock slightly when he threw a punch. Natsu watched as a magic circle appeared where Gray’s fist met his palm. He smirked. Just from the stance, he could tell that Gray was about to send lances in his direction.

“Ice Make…” the raven began. Natsu darted to the side just as the spell unfolded and was shocked with what he found himself facing.

“Hammer!” Before the rosette could block, the chunk of ice was already upon him. He cursed and threw a fist into the enlarged weapon, which succeeded in cracking it, but a good portion of the ice still came crashing down on him. He glared up at Gray from his position on the ground. His instincts were never wrong. Gray had been about to cast Ice Make: Lance. So why did a hammer appear instead? Behind Gray, Matilda cackled.

“Surprised are we? If you haven’t noticed, with Gray’s loss of control over his magic, _I_ am the one who has control of what he casts now. I’m sure you were aware that he was about to create lances. I simply ordered him to make a hammer instead.” Natsu’s flames roared as he stood and the room’s temperature spiked. It was one thing to mess with Gray and another to mess with the guild. Both were unforgiveable but even beyond that was to tamper with someone’s magic.

 

A mage’s magic was their life and soul. Years of dedicated hard work, blood, sweat and tears were poured into it. Natsu was proud of his Dragon Slayer magic and he was certain that Gray was just as, if not even more, proud of his Ice Maker magic. It was the last memento he had of his teacher. Natsu brushed rubble off of his shoulder as he turned to glare not at Gray, the enemy in front of him, but at Matilda.

“I will kill you,” he promised, “and when I do, you won’t be getting any mercy from me.” Matilda simply laughed and ordered Gray forward with a flick of the wrist. Ice met fire as flashes of blue and red lit up the guild.

* * *

 

Erza twisted her wrist to slice through a jet of water that Steven shot at her. The water mage growled but continued to exhaust his magic, throwing attack after useless attack at the S-class mage. Even if she was on the defensive, it was clear who had the advantage in this fight.

Finally, Erza, clad in her normal armour, stood tall as Steven hunched over and panted, tired after using almost all of his magic. When he looked up, there was a sword pointed at his throat. He slowly raised his hands in surrender.

“Undo the magic you’ve casted upon the guild,” the furious redhead ordered. Steven clicked his tongue.

_Damnit… has it come to this?_

 

Defiantly, he turned his head to the side. If possible, Erza’s gaze darkened. The illusion mage gulped nervously. With bangs covering her eyes, Erza asked,

“Why go so far for her?”

“Huh?”

“Earlier you said, ‘Matilda makes me stronger’, didn’t you? What did that mean?”

“Shut up! You don’t know anything!”

“…Then why don’t you explain, and maybe I will.”

“It’s none of your business!” Erza paused as her expression softened in the slightest.

“I see. You love her.” Steven’s expression turned livid as he shoved the female knight away from him.

“You don’t know shit! Fuck the consequences, if it defeats you, then it’s worth it!” he screamed as he clapped his hands together, as if in prayer. A huge outburst of magical energy flooded around him as Erza brought her arm in front of her in an attempt to see straight.

“ _Mari bestiam fac transire audeant virtute et percute me inimici._ _Invoco te in corpore servus et humilis._ _Egredietur belluam maris, Leviathan!_ ”

 

A rumbling resounded through the guild that caused the battles to stop. Lightning flashed outside as what used to be a sunny day turned into a thunderstorm. Lightning arced through the sky and thunder boomed loudly. Erza stared up in wonder when she detected an intense magical pressure in front of her. The storm subsided as suddenly as it had appeared. She turned back to her opponent and found him bathed in a sea blue light. When Steven opened his eyes, what used to be ice blue had turned into blood red. Steven let loose a roar that had Erza flinching back as he charged forward with a speed that he had not possessed earlier. Erza blinked and crossed her arms over her chest in an attempt to block the kick that she knew was coming, but when it actually connected, she flew backwards and crashed into a pillar. She looked up at Steven, astounded at the change in power and speed.

“ _Stand up human. I am the beast of the sea, Leviathan. You will not have the privilege of death until I have wrecked enough havoc to satisfy Acnologia himself!_ ”

* * *

 

Lucy blinked as the world around her seemed to swirl. She rubbed her eyes and when her vision cleared, she found that in place of the enemy she thought she had been fighting, she had in fact been fighting against Cana. The card mage seemed to realise this as well and gave Lucy a quick apology hug. The two turned to find the rest of the guild shaking their heads in confusion before an explosion had bits of the ceiling collapsing on top of them. They all rushed outside to find a giant army attacking the building. Lucy’s eyes widened as she recognised the symbol on their cloaks. She pointed to them, furious.

“They’re with Fatal Falcon! They’re the ones... they’re the ones who did this to Gray!” The Fairy Tail members immediately understood and began the task of kicking the dark guild members to the curb. Nothing was stronger than the bond of friendship within Fairy Tail mages and the Fatal Falcon members were about to get a taste of the power of that bond first hand.

* * *

 

Erza looked back to find the guild nowhere in sight, but judging by the noise outside and Lucy’s livid voice, she could assume that the illusion magic had worn off. Her eyes narrowed at the foe in front of her. Steven glowed an eerie sea blue and his gaze was unnerving; inhuman, almost. She observed the change in the dark mage’s magic. Earlier, he had been on his last legs, nearing magic depletion. Now it was as if he was more powerful than how he had started off.

 

From the looks of things, Steven had used a spell that allowed some sort of beast to possess him. Erza doubted if there was any trace of the dark mage left in his body. Perhaps it was because he had relinquished control over his body that the illusion magic casted over the guild had dispersed. It was certainly plausible. Erza had dealt with possession before, if Jellal was any example, but she hadn’t been the one to snap Jellal out of his insanity, Natsu was. She grunted when she felt a kick come into contact with her side and she went flying. She cursed her own carelessness.

“Requip! Flight Armour!” she announced and was instantly clad in her speed enhancing armour. She held her twin swords at the ready and charged towards Leviathan. The beast was surprised but grinned as its bloodlust took over its initial shock.

“ _Interesting... amuse me, human!_ ”

* * *

 

Natsu shook the dirt out of his pink locks. He was covered in wounds and there was also the odd patch of ice on his body every now and then. He was thankful that Gray never truly went all out with him. The stupid Ice Bastard could make his ice insanely cold if he wanted to. Natsu almost thought that he had frostbite. That said, Gray was in no better condition. He was covered in burns and his right leg was bent at an awkward angle. Of course, one of the advantages of having Molding Magic was that Gray could just freeze it in place, which is exactly what he did. It frustrated Natsu to no end, since Gray seemed to have the advantage in this fight.

“Gray you bastard, snap out of it! Do you really need help from someone else to beat me?! Are you that weak, Frost Breath?!” he demanded. Matilda simply smiled as though the comment didn’t bother her. She brushed it aside.

“Nonsense. He’s stronger than he ever was before and he knows it. Gray dear, hurry up and put this fool out of his misery.”

“Gray, fight it! You’re stronger than this! Are you just going to take orders from her like that?!”

“Of course he is. He doesn’t have a choice. And when he’s done with you, he’s going to move on to the rest of you pixies.”

“Did you hear that Gray?! This crazy bitch wants to use you to kill your family! Are you still going to listen to her you fucker?!”

“Enough! Gray, hurry up and kill him!” She thrust her hand forward to emphasize her command but her expression changed to shock when she saw the ice mage’s good leg flinch but he did not move forward. Natsu was surprised as well until he heard Gray say something that he would not have heard without his enhanced hearing.

“Nat...su...” The Dragon Slayer brightened immediately while the Angel Slayer scowled. The magic circle imprinted in Gray’s eye dimmed as did the markings on his body.

“Gray!” Natsu shouted, ecstatic.

“Natsu... you have to kill me! Please!” the raven pleaded. Natsu vehemently shook his head.

“You’re crazy! After all we’ve been through together, you think I’m just going to let you die like this?! No way in hell!”

“Natsu, I can’t hold out any longer! Do it now!”

“No!” With that final argument, Gray gasped and he straightened as if he had been zapped with one of Laxus’ attacks. Natsu’s heart dropped to his stomach while Matilda’s scowl turned into a sinister smile. The circle in Gray’s eye and marks on his body reverted to their original brightness, if not even brighter.

“Now then, Gray dear, I’m getting sick of waiting. _Kill him._ ” Gray nodded as he threw his shirt off. Natsu couldn’t help but grin. Once a stripper always a stripper. Gray brought his arms together above his head and began to gather magic energy. Natsu felt his weight increase under the sheer pressure of the magic but even so, he couldn’t be happier. The short exchange between him and the real Gray confirmed one thing.

It wasn’t too late to save Gray.


	14. Juvia

The sphere of magic energy that Gray had accumulated above his head was immense. Natsu had never felt so much magic power from the raven haired wizard before. He feared for what that meant for Gray. Matilda laughed, obviously knowing something that Natsu didn't. That didn't bode well with the rosette.

 

"What the hell is going on?!" he shouted over the ruckus the accumulated magic was making. Gray ignored him, as he expected and so did Matilda. Instead, she seemed to direct her comments towards Gray.

"I never even ordered you to do that! But by all means go ahead, Gray dear! Kill him along with yourself!" she laughed. Natsu jolted as he attempted to run forward, screaming.

"What do you mean by that?! Tell me!" he roared. Matilda smiled, not seeing any point in withholding the information seeing as how the Dragon Slayer could do nothing to stop it.

"He’s concentrating all of his magic energy into one blow. Of course, normally there isn’t anything wrong with using your magic up for one final attack. But with a spell of this magnitude, and to use this much magic in one blow, he’s almost certain to suffer from rapid magic depletion, which is more than often a cause of death in mages. In other words, you pea brained Salamander, you will die once you take this attack and Gray will die soon after you!" Natsu's eyes widened. He couldn't let Gray cast the spell!

Natsu charged forward, fighting the magical energy that pushed him back two steps for every one that he took. It was scarily reminiscent of Galuna Island but Natsu couldn't be bothered to take a trip down memory lane. He didn't stand by the last time Gray tried to kill himself and he wouldn't now. He lit his heels on fire but even that wasn't enough to propel him forward. Natsu watched in fear as Gray began to glow a pale blue just like when the raven had casted Iced Shell. Natsu cursed.

 _Damnit! I'll be a disgrace to Igneel if I can't even save one of my_ nakama _from dying!_

Digging his heels into the ground, Natsu felt his magic power rise as the need to protect Gray and the desire to kill Matilda took over. He held his arms out and let his flames envelop his hands as well as his body.

"Dragon Slayer Secret Art: Crimson Lotus Exploding Flame Blade!" he shouted, just as the sphere above Gray's head shrank then exploded suddenly, heading towards Natsu. The flames met the ice halfway in between the two and the two opposing elements pushed and pushed, one trying to kill and the other trying to protect. However, the malicious ice seemed to be more powerful as some of the fire began to freeze over. Natsu screamed out every profanity he knew and if Erza heard him, he was sure that she would wash his mouth with soap, age be damned.

The flames seemed to reignite in their fervour and pushed back hungrily, consuming the ice that had once threatened to overpower it. Natsu screamed until his throat became raw and fire exploded out of him, hotter and fiercer than anything he had ever produced before. Even Matilda was surprised at the sudden shift in tide.

Natsu's flames finally surpassed Gray's ice and surged forward, homing in on their target. Gray's blank eyes widened marginally as he was engulfed by fire. The area in which they fought exploded and a thick smoke was left. Natsu panted as he surveyed the wreckage for any sign of the Gray or Matilda. When the smoke cleared, he saw Gray standing, although just barely, and Matilda safely behind him. Natsu clenched his fists until he felt blood trickle through his fingers. Matilda was using Gray as a shield... and that pissed the hell out of Natsu. Gray staggered before falling to both knees. The purple veins on his body still glowed brightly as did the magic circle in his eye. Matilda watched with distaste.

"Stand up. You will either kill the Dragon Slayer or die trying, Gray Fullbuster." As if being pulled on by invisible strings, Gray shakily stood. Natsu frowned at the state his friend was in. The raven was covered in burns and the ice that had encased his broken leg had melted off. It was a wonder that Gray was standing.

No sooner than he had thought that, Gray lunged forward, ice cast reformed and hands already in his Ice Make stance.

"Ice Make-"he started. Natsu met the raven haired teen with his own attack. He forced his aching limbs to move faster than Gray so that he could land the hit first.

"Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!" The attack slammed into Gray's gut and the ice mage coughed out a little blood. Natsu cringed and apologised in his mind. He hadn't meant to hit Gray that hard. He had only been desperate to free his friend.

Gray's form crumpled and Natsu was quick to catch the unconscious raven. He frowned at the trail of blood from Gray's lips and set him down gently so that he was leaning against one of the few pillars that was still intact. The purple tendrils enslaving his friend were still glowing brightly and Natsu promptly decided that his new least favourite colour was purple. He turned to the spectator of their battle, who now had no option but to fight herself.

A purple aura immediately surrounded the Angel Slayer. Natsu felt his knees threaten to buckle as he was almost crushed by the sheer intensity. Matilda grinned as she cracked her knuckles.

"Well then, I didn't expect you to do that. But I'm thrilled. I get to enjoy killing you with my own hands,  _Dragon Slayer_." A fiery aura encompassed Natsu as he glared hatefully up at his opponent.

"Bring it on. I'll kill you for hurting Fairy Tail and messing with my  _nakama_!" he yelled as Matilda charged forward, purple fire engulfing her body. Natsu coated himself in his flames and the temperature inside the guild rose to scorching levels as the two Slayers clashed.

* * *

 

Erza found herself in a pinch. While she was holding her own and had landed more than a couple of hits on Leviathan, it seemed as though the durability of Steven's body had risen during the possession and what would have been enough to defeat or at least subdue him, were the equivalent of scratches to the beast. She gripped her Crystal Sword tightly. She had requipped back into her Sea Empress Armour a while ago which increased her resistance to Leviathan's attacks, but it was much harder for her to keep up in terms of speed in comparison to when she had donned her Flight Armour. Erza bit her lip as she slashed at Leviathan again, only for him to dodge. She couldn't keep this battle going on longer than necessary. She needed to check on Natsu and Gray!

Faster than she could blink, Leviathan appeared beside her.

" _Can you really afford to let your thoughts wander when_ I  _am your opponent, human?_ " Erza grunted as she took a blast of scalding pressurized water. It would have been worse had she not been wearing her Sea Empress Armour. She was pushed back several feet when she noticed the sky above her darken once more. The sound of electricity was heard and Erza's eyes widened in realization as she rushed to requip her armour.

A blast of lightning struck her a second after she requipped into her Lightning Empress Armour. She glared up at Leviathan. So the beast had two types of magic... If she stayed in her Lightning Empress Armour, she would be susceptible to water attacks. But if she requipped into her Sea Empress Armour, she would be vulnerable against lightning attacks. Erza grimaced. She would have to figure something out.

* * *

 

Natsu jumped back to avoid a flaming kick coming his way and brought his hands in front of his mouth.

"Fire Dragon's Roar!" In response, Matilda grinned and took a deep breath.

"Fire Angel's Howl!" The two flames met and grew as they tried to overpower the other. Purple washed over red as Matilda's attack swallowed Natsu's and rushed towards him. Natsu's eyes widened just as he was consumed by Matilda's flames. He had initially thought that he would be fine, since fire normally did not affect him. He was bewildered to find that the fire did indeed hurt and he hunched over when the wave of fire ended. Matilda sneered at him from afar.

"Surprised,  _Dragon Slayer_? Angel Slaying Magic ignores properties of any other Slayer. In other words, even if you  _are_  a Fire Dragon Slayer,  _my_  flames will still burn you. Yours, on the other hand, will do nothing to harm me. In other words, I am the worst possible opponent you could ever face!" Natsu's eyebrow twitched.

"Oh yeah? We'll see about that!" he shouted as he let loose another Roar. This time, Matilda did nothing to stop the attack. She let the red flames wash over her as she revelled in them. Natsu took half a step back as he watched Matilda suck up his fire and flash him a smile.

"Thanks for the meal," she taunted. Natsu clicked his tongue and dodged just in time for Matilda to come flying at him with a flaming fist. Without his magic, Natsu was at a huge disadvantage. To make things worse, he could still be hurt from Matilda's magic. Natsu blinked as Matilda seemed to disappear in front of him. Using his nose, he tried to sniff out her location but was suddenly punched in the gut. Natsu staggered back and wiped a trickle of blood from his lips. He let out a battle cry as he charged forward again. Matilda smiled from where she stood as she waited for her foe to come to her.

* * *

 

_"Gray dear, you're awake now aren't you?"_

_"..."_

_"There's something I need you to do for me..."_

* * *

 

Natsu lay with his back on the floor, covered in burns as Matilda stood tall over him. She flicked her wrist and a ball of flame appeared and danced in her palm.

"This is the difference between Angel and Dragon Slayers. Do you give up yet,  _Natsu Dragneel_?" The rosette scoffed as he forced himself onto his feet, stumbling and struggling to stay upright.

"What are you talking about? Fairy Tail mages never give up. And besides, I already told you..." Natsu's flames roared up once more as he glowered at her. "I'll kill you for messing with my family." Matilda gave him a self satisfied smirk. Before he could ask what the hell was so amusing, he heard a voice that he  _should not_ have heard.

"Natsu-san? Eh? And who's this?" Natsu turned around, feeling a sinking sense of dread. Behind him, Juvia stood next to Gray, looking absolutely confused. She turned to the raven who had brought her here.

"Gray-sama what's—"

A knife made of ice appeared in Gray's hand and the next thing Juvia knew, she was lying on the ground, in an unbearable amount of pain which originated from her throat.

Natsu watched the whole scene unfold from the flash of blue to the red spillage. He couldn't believe his eyes. He  _wouldn't_  believe his eyes.

Gray...

Gray had...

...killed Juvia.

"JUVIA!"

* * *

 

_"Gray dear, you're awake now aren't you?"_

_"..."_

_"There's something I need you to do for me..."_

_"What is it?"_

_" **Kill a pixie.** "_


	15. Death of a Family Member

Gray stood silently and exited the destroyed guildhall without Natsu noticing. The fire mage was focussed on his fight with Matilda after all. He searched through the chaos for someone he could deceive. He heard footsteps from behind him and whirled around, ready to attack when the person flinched and drew back.

“Gray-sama? Are you alright?” she asked. Juvia! Perfect! He would be able to trick her easily. He smiled as charmingly as he could at her.

“Yeah, I’m fine Juvia. What about you? You holding up ok?” he asked. Juvia squealed excitedly.

“Juvia is doing fine! These enemies are no match for everyone!” she reported happily. Gray smiled. Juvia looked down and saw the ice that encased Gray’s broken leg. “Gray-sama! Are you ok? Hold on, I can get Wendy...”

“Juvia, I’m fine. Don’t worry about me. I need you for something. Can you come with me for a second?” Juvia’s heart pounded as her sense of caution was overtaken by one thought.

 

_Love confession love confession love confession..._

She was so caught up in her thoughts that she didn’t notice that they had entered the remnants guild. A flash of pink brought her back to reality.

“Natsu-san?” She then noticed the green haired mage next. “Eh? And who’s this?” She turned to the ice mage in confusion.

“Gray-sama what’s—“

A horrible pain coursed through her entire body as she fell to the floor. She shivered as her body moved on its own and clutched at a wound at her neck. Despite her efforts, warm blood still seeped through her fingers and stained the guild floor red. Juvia took deep breaths, trying to calm herself, but failing. She opened her hazy blue eyes and stared up at the man she loved. A cold, emotionless gaze met hers. Juvia felt tears well up in her eyes.

 

“G-Gray-sama...”

 

_Why?_

 

Then her world faded to black.

 

* * *

 

“JUVIA!!!” Natsu screamed. He slid across the ground, not caring that the rocks and chipped wood were scraping against his skin and leaving bloody trails. He reached out to touch the water mage only to flinch back out of fear that he worsen the injury. He turned to where the entrance of the guild used to be.

“WENDY!!! HELP!!!” he screamed desperately. The little Dragon Slayer and her Exceed were in the guild in an instant. Wendy caught sight of the state Juvia was in and needed no other prompting. The only problem was that Gray was standing in between her and Juvia. In fact, it was a wonder that he had not attacked Natsu. Carla couldn’t help but wonder about the reason but did not voice her thoughts.

“Natsu-san!” The older Dragon Slayer understood immediately. After carefully setting Juvia down, he tackled Gray swiftly. The ice mage grunted as the two flew back.

 

Without wasting a second, Wendy bolted over to where Juvia lay. She brought her hands in front of her quickly as she emitted a pale green glow from her palms directly over the laceration on Juvia’s throat. Wendy poured out her magic, willing for the wound to close.

 

She suddenly perked up and turned to look over her shoulder, a look of fear on her features. Matilda stood behind her, palm outstretched with a magic circle floating in between her and Wendy. Natsu’s head snapped to the side when he sensed the sudden build up of magic energy. He pulled himself off Gray, who he had had pinned to the ground, and threw himself towards the girls.

“Fire Angel’s Burst!” Natsu careened into Matilda’s side and caused her hand to fly left of Wendy. Countless flaming swords attacked the poor guild and when the smoke died down, there was no trace of Fairy Tail’s left wall to be seen. Wendy took advantage of the situation and continued to heal Juvia. She sighed in relief when she saw that the wound was beginning to close. Carla wiped tears from her eyes.

“Thank goodness...”

* * *

 

Erza dared a peek over the railing as she jumped back to avoid another bolt of lightning. She had heard Natsu’s desperate screams but had had no time to check the first floor. Even now, she could only spare a fleeting glance. What she saw revolted her.

 

A large pool of blood had stained the guild floor red. When Erza searched for the source of the blood, she was outraged to find Wendy healing Juvia, her petite hands covering the water mage’s neck. It didn’t take much for Erza to piece the puzzle together. On another part of the floor, Natsu and Matilda were fighting on the floor. Erza was sure that she had seen Natsu punch Matilda at least once in the gut and she smiled, pleased with the retribution the dark mage was undoubtedly receiving from a livid Dragon Slayer.

 

When she saw Gray standing to the side, Erza had to wonder what was going on. Gray was normally in the thick of things whenever there was a fight. She was about to ask when Leviathan surged forward and attempted to punch her into the floor. Erza quickly ducked underneath it and sent it back flying with a kick. The beast clutched its front and caught its breath. Erza scowled. This battle had dragged on for too long already. She would finish it now.

                “Requip! Armadura Fairy!” The Queen of Fairies was instantly clad in the pink armour, her concentration heightened threefold. This would be the first time she ever wore this armour for a real battle but she had wasted enough time with Leviathan. She raised her twin swords in preparation. Leviathan smirked, seemingly amused.

                “ _It seems as though you are prepared to end this, human. Very well. However, the one who shall be vanquished is not I!”_ it shouted as the sky above the pair darkened once more. Leviathan held its hands in front of it.

                “ _Oceanus digeris torrentum!_ ” A massive wave of water erupted from behind Leviathan and rushed towards Erza. The redhead’s grip on her swords tightened as she charged forward. Her blades hummed with magic energy as they adopted a green glow. Erza continued forward and brought one of her sword down in a slicing motion.

 

With one slash, the wave of water parted and receded downstairs. Erza could hear Natsu yelp from the first floor but paid it no mind. Leviathan took a step back, terrified in the face of Erza’s power. Titania took a step forward. Then another. For every step that Erza took, Leviathan took one back until finally he was up against a miraculously intact wall. Erza pointed one of her swords to his throat.

“It’s over, Leviathan.” The beast suddenly smiled. Erza’s eyes widened as she looked up at the still darkening rain clouds.

                “ _Caelum iactatas fulmen!_ ”

 

A bolt of lightning rivalling that of Laxus’ magic rushed down to Erza. Leviathan grinned.

 

_That amount of electricity is enough to kill five men! I would like to see you try to survive that!_

 

Erza remained calm as she requipped out of Armadura Fairy and into her Lightning Empress Armour. However, her two Fairy Swords remained. She held one up and pointed it at the sky. There was a loud boom when the lightning connected with the sword.

 

The yellow arc of electricity never passed the sword’s tip. In fact, the green glow that had surrounded the sword earlier seemed to have grown in brightness. Leviathan’s jaw dropped.

 

His lightning...

 

His lightning was being _absorbed_ by this human?!

 

Erza looked up, a serious glare on her face. Leviathan attempted to stand and run but tripped over himself in fear. Erza fixed him with her merciless gaze.

 

“Fairy Piercing Sword!”

 

Leviathan flew back and slammed into the back wall of the guild. Erza huffed as she requipped back into her normal armour. She fell on one knee as she struggled to catch her breath.

 

_I guess I’m not ready to use different armour with different weapons yet. Just a little more training though and I can probably do it..._

Erza stood and walked over to where Steven’s body lay. His eyebrows furrowed as he opened his eyes. Erza was mildly relieved to find them their normal ice blue. Steven scoffed at her from where he lay.

“Are you going to rub it in now, Titania?” he wheezed. Erza shook her head.

“Not at all. I just want to know why you did that.”

“Why I let Leviathan take over my body?”

A nod.

“What does it even matter to you?”

“I get the feeling that there is more to your bond with Matilda than you let on.” Steven sighed.

“We were childhood friends. We grew up in the same village. My family took care of her when they found out she was an orphan. That’s all there is to it.”

“If that is truly all there is to it, then why are you willing to go so far for her?” Steven’s eyes widened as he laughed and scratched his head.

“Damn, you’re an observant one, Erza Scarlet,” he laughed. Suddenly, his eyes widened as he turned onto his side and began to cough. Erza’s eyes widened when she saw that Steven was coughing up blood.

“Hey! Are you ok?!” Steven wiped the blood from his lips and rolled over onto his back. The orange haired man laughed.

“Don’t act like you care, Titania.” Erza’s gaze hardened.

“You are an enemy, yes. But that is not my concern at the moment,” was her only answer. Steven winced as he coughed and a trickle of blood left his mouth.

“This spell kills the user. Matilda doesn’t know that though. It’s the price to pay for allowing the Beast of the Sea to control your body and magic.” Erza raised an eyebrow.

“Why doesn’t Matilda know? Doesn’t she deserve to?” Steven scoffed.

“You don’t know anything about us. Don’t go acting all high and mighty, Titania.” Erza frowned.

“Why didn’t you tell her your feelings?”

“I _told_ you—” A hard glare from Erza shut him up. Steven sighed. “Because it would only get in her way. Matilda’a already decided her path and I already decided a long time ago that I would support her.” Erza shook her head and gave him a pitying look.

“A friend once told me... that we don’t die for our friends; we live for them. Don’t you think that Matilda would have been much happier with you by her side? How will you support her now?” Steven laughed brokenly.

“It’s too late for that now.” He turned onto his side again as he was caught up in another bout of hacking up blood. He gazed up at the red haired knight, his eyes now holding a glassy look to them. Steven felt an inexplicable sadness well up in him. He had been prepared to die from the start! He had been...so...

 

Why did he feel such emptiness?

 

_“Steven! Hurry up! We’re going to miss the parade!”_

_“Steven, wake up! It’s already 11!”_

_“Steven... I want to make a guild. Will you join me?”_

Shit... He didn’t want to die! He wanted to spend more time with Matilda...

 

“Erza Scarlet... can you do me a favour?” he asked weakly. Erza smiled softly. She had a feeling she knew what this request was.

“Yes. What is it?” Tears welled up in Steven’s blank eyes as he weakly clenched a fist.

“T-Tell Matilda... ‘Goodbye. I love you’.” With that, the last shred of light in Steven’s blue eyes faded and his fist unclenched limply. Erza removed her gauntlet and gently closed Steven’s eyelids.

“I’ll make sure she gets the message.”

* * *

 

Natsu rolled over as he grappled with Matilda on the floor. His hands pinned hers to the floor. Matilda looked up him with rage and headbutted him, causing him to fall back. He charged forward, fist pulled back only for Matilda to catch it in the palm of her hand. She changed her grip so that it was on his wrist, moved her other arm so that it was under Natsu’s upper arm and unceremoniously flipped him onto the floor. Natsu tried to stand but was stopped when a sneaker planted itself on his throat.

“What’s this? I thought you were going to kill me. You’ll never come close with this kind of power.” Natsu growled.

“Shut up. I don’t break promises.” The green haired mage laughed. She held her palm out at Natsu and the rosette watched in fear as the magic circle appeared in front of her palm.

“That’s a shame. It seems like you’ll have to start today.” Her eyes narrowed dangerously at him.

“ _Goodbye, Dragon Slayer._ ”

 

Just as she was about to unleash her spell, Matilda turned her head towards the staircase. She clicked her tongue and jumped backwards, away from Natsu, just in time to avoid getting skewered by a magic sword, which now was implanted where her foot had once been. In other words, right next to Natsu’s neck. The Dragon Slayer shivered as he turned his head robotically to the side.

“E-Erza?!” The redhead jumped down from the balcony and landed gracefully on the first floor, clad in her Flame Empress Armour. She stared at the Angel Slayer for a moment before dropping her glare.

“I have a message for you from Steven.” Natsu perked up at this and sat up. The weird water dude that he had fought last time? Matilda’s guard seemed to drop as her interest was piqued.

“Why are you delivering it for him? Where’s Steven? What have you done with him?!” she shouted, volume growing with each question.

“He’s dead. He wanted me to tell you this. ‘Goodbye. I love you.’” Matilda’s eyes widened. Tears fell unbidden down her cheeks. She glared up at Erza and charged forward, her entire body coated in purple flames.

“YOU BITCH!” she screamed. Erza was about to dodge when Natsu jumped in between the two girls.

“Natsu!” Erza stated in surprise. Without turning around, the Dragon Slayer answered her in a serious tone.

“Leave her to me, Erza. Can you keep Gray out of our fight?” Erza glanced warily at the ice mage who had up until then, stood stock still as he did not have any orders. Erza requipped out of her Flame Empress Armour and opted for her normal Heart Kreuz armour, accompanied by a magic sword.

“Got it. Take care of it quickly, Natsu.”

“I know.”

* * *

 

Erza stalked calmly towards her childhood friend. Gray had been the one to open her armoured heart all those years ago. It was her turn to help him. Matilda appeared to have given Gray some sort of telepathic order as he suddenly lunged forward, intent to kill. Erza had to quickly jump to the side to avoid being crushed by an ice hammer.  She was about to bring her sword down in an arc when she remembered who her opponent was. That split second hesitation allowed Gray to hit her with several lances at close range. Erza scowled. She didn’t want to hurt Gray but the raven clearly had no intention of making this battle easy for her. She sighed as she skidded back on the guild floor. She would just have to knock him out then.

* * *

 

Matilda sneered at the boy in front of her.

“Get out of the way, Dragon Slayer. She killed Steven!” Natsu’s eyes narrowed dangerously.

“And you’re controlling Gray and almost killed Juvia. Your point?” Matilda’s fists became bathed in purple flames.

“I won’t ask again. _Get out of the way_.”

“And I won’t say it again. No.” For the first time, Matilda lost her composure and roared in rage, charging at Natsu. The Dragon Slayer easily dodged the blind attack. Matilda turned back, flames in her mouth and unleashed another Howl. Natsu met the attack head to head with a Roar. This time, Natsu’s attack had the advantage and overpowered Matilda’s attack. Lavender eyes widened as she dodged the attack out of instinct. She clicked her tongue. She could have used that to replenish her magic! Natsu sneered from several feet away.

“What’s wrong Matilda? You seem a little off.”

“Shut up, shut up, shut up! You Fairy bastards took my family away from me again!” Natsu raised an eyebrow as he grabbed on to her wrist when she tried to throw a punch at his face.

“’Again’? What do you mean by that?” Natsu stiffened imperceptibly when he noticed that Matilda had started crying. But the tears were not of grief; no they held no trace of it. They were tears of rage.

“Shut up! I don’t have to tell you a fucking thing!” she screamed, her voice rising in pitch as she lost control of herself. “Fire Angel’s Burst!” The attack was fired multiple times but Natsu easily dodged each one. Reading the trajectory was child’s play now that Matilda had lost her calm. Natsu watched the girl in front of him closely. Each blast of fire illuminated the crying Slayer’s face and Natsu could clearly read all the emotions that Matilda was experiencing.

 

Rage.

 

Disbelief.

 

Grief. Through it all, Matilda screamed out her sorrow and loss.

 

“You killed them! You killed all of them! The Angel Slayers, my mother and now you’ve taken away the last thing I had left!” Natsu listened to her screams in silence. It was meant as respect for what she had lived through but Matilda took it as acceptance and approval of what had happened. Her magic power grew in intensity.

“I’ll fucking kill all you other Slayers and I’ll have Gray Fullbuster do it for me! I’ll have him kill all of you pathetic Fairy bastards then let him realise what he’s done! Let’s see how he likes his family dead! This is revenge for the Fire Angel Hestidiel!” Natsu growled from his throat, deep and feral.

“Gray would never kill anyone! You’ve got it wrong!” Matilda’s eyes narrowed with inconceivable fury.

“I smelled him! He smells like the man who murdered my mother! Don’t you fucking dare tell me it wasn’t him!” The Angel Slayer’s magic power once again grew exponentially. She clapped her hands together as if in prayer. Slowly, she brought them apart and a small translucent purple orb floated in between her palms. Natsu tensed and crouched as he anticipated the attack. This was undoubtedly her last attempt. She would have no more magic to call upon after this. Matilda let out a cry of rage as the purple orb expanded to encompass Natsu and herself. The Dragon Slayer looked around in caution as the spell neared him, not knowing what to expect of the attack.

“Angel Slayer Forbidden Art...” Onyx eyes widened in shock. Forbidden Art?

 

 _Fuck is that...?!_ Natsu didn’t have time to complete the thought before Matilda’s voice cut through the silence like a sharp blade, announcing his doom.

“ _Fallen Angels’ Endless Onslaught._ ”


	16. Battle's End

Erza huffed as she finally managed to land a blunt blow to the back of Gray’s neck with the hilt of her sword. She caught the falling ice mage gently. She looked around her to find nothing that she could prop Gray up against. She frowned and surveyed the area for any place that she could set him down.

She was about to give up when she heard a voice shout,

“Erza!” The redhead turned and found Carla floating above her. “We can move him over to where Wendy and Juvia are. Of course, we have to be careful...” Erza nodded in agreement. Carla began to fly away and Erza followed carefully, stepping over rubble and debris from the battle. When she arrived at where the healer was situated, she set her unconscious friend down.

“How’s Juvia?” she asked. Wendy smiled tiredly at her.

“It was a little touch and go for a while, but she’ll be fine!” Erza breathed a sigh of relief.

“I see. Thank goodness. Thank you, Wendy.” The petite bluenette turned her attention to Gray. She frowned when she got a good look at the state of the ice mage. She was about to move one of her hands from above Juvia’s neck to Gray’s broken leg when Erza’s gauntlet clad hand stopped her.

“No... we can’t risk it. If he wakes up, he’ll be even harder to knock out again. I only brought him here because I thought that he would like it better than being alone in the wreckage...” she finished sadly. Wendy’s eyes watered but she bit her lip and looked away from her surrogate big brother as she continued to heal Juvia’s wound. Erza turned from the scene and regarded the giant purple orb in what used to be the guild hall with concern and caution.

_Natsu..._

* * *

 

Natsu found himself struggling to see inside the strange orb that held him prisoner. He had tried to light one of his fingertips on fire but each time he did, it was snuffed out instantly. He had tried screaming for someone to answer him only to be met with his echo. Natsu glowered into black space. Alone, without his vision, smell or, for all he could tell, hearing. The odds were not in his favour. A voice laughed darkly from somewhere in front of him.

“Natsu Dragneel... this is where you finally die.” Natsu bristled at the declaration.

“Matilda! Show your fucking face, coward!” Matilda scoffed.

“I’ve been in front of you this entire time, _Dragon Slayer_. But I didn’t want to start until our audience was with us.”

“Audience? What audience?”

“Why, the souls of all the past Angel Slayers of course.”

 

Natsu turned, petrified when he heard strange noises from all around him. It sounded like flesh being twisted out of nothing and Natsu shivered at the thought. The noise continued as more and more enemies seemed to materialize. Matilda stepped forward and Natsu could finally see her. The Angel Slayer was bathed in black and purple light, her eyes now a deep red, the colour of blood. She was deathly calm, in contrast to how she was acting before this spell.  She continued to walk towards him as she started conversationally,

“Like you Dragon Slayers, Angel Slayers also have ‘Secret Arts’. Except we call them ‘Forbidden Arts’.” She stopped a pace away from Natsu and tilted his chin up with her index finger. “Did you know that some people believe that the devil was once an angel? He was the first angel and had no flaws. But because of this, he grew proud and was cast out of heaven and fell to Earthland. In other words, he was a Fallen Angel.” She withdrew her finger quickly and sharply, scratching Natsu’s chin just enough to draw blood.

“Angel Slayers are holy beings. Forbidden Arts use our magic and call forth the souls of every Angel Slayer before us from Hell and allows those souls to exact their revenge. We utilise the power of the devil himself when we cast Forbidden Arts.” Natsu’s eyes were covered by his bangs. Matilda took that as a sign for her to continue.

“Since you’re a _Dragon Slayer_ , one of the Slayers that launched a genocide on us eons ago, I don’t doubt that these souls will take their sweet time killing you. They have a millennia worth of anger to vent.” Then her tone changed from arrogant to serious. “A life for a life. I’ll kill you for Hestidiel, myself and for Steven.” With that, Matilda took a step back and watched as the souls of the Angel Slayers began to take shape into humanoid, translucent beings and stalked towards Natsu.

 

Natsu lifted his head up slightly so that his bangs were still covering his eyes.

“Are you done now?” Matilda reeled back in shock.

“W-What?” Natsu continued, his tone solemn.

“I get that you went through a lot. It must have been horrible. But...” His memories flashed in his mind, bright and welcoming.

 

The guild, illuminated in sunlight, standing proud and tall in Magnolia.

 

All of his guildmates, smiling brightly at him as he returned from a mission with his team.

 

Igneel, flashing him a toothy grin that would have been terrifying to anyone but warm and fatherly to him.

 

“...That gave you no right to mess with my guild.” Lightning arced around Natsu threateningly and the souls of the dead backed away in fear.

“L-Lightning?” Matilda stammered.

“I’m not interested in this millennia old grudge or this huge revenge scheme you have...” Natsu’s magic power increased as his flames roared to life and mingled with the lightning already dancing at his feet. The purple space attempted to extinguish the flames once more but Natsu’s flames would just not quit. They churned angrily, depicting how their master was truly feeling despite his calm exterior.

“The reason I’m going to defeat you...” Silence ensued as the souls disappeared and Matilda was left alone in the face of a furious Dragon Slayer. Her blood red eyes widened.

 

_N-No way... he cancelled my spell? While it was already underway?!_

“...is because you decided to hurt my _nakama_.” Matilda took a step back. For the first time in ages, she was afraid of an enemy. The magic power surrounding Natsu Dragneel was immense. Insanely so.

“M-Monster...”

 

“Lightning Flame Dragon Mode!” Natsu growled as his teeth elongated into fangs. The lightning that had been darting about at his feet collected into his left fist. The flames followed suit and converged into his right fist.

“Dragon Slayer Secret Art: Crimson Lotus Exploding Lightning Blade!” Natsu pivoted on his heel and the two magics fused together to form a spiral of red and yellow, growing larger with every second that passed. The magic strained against its purple confines as its destructive power exploded. The attack surrounded Matilda in a flurry of fire and lightning. Matilda tried to consume the fire, in an attempt to replenish her magic, but found herself painfully shocked by the lightning. Finally, the purple prison cracked and shattered, freeing Natsu from its horrors. Natsu panted from exhaustion but was inwardly ecstatic when he saw Matilda lying bloody and burnt and _defeated_ a mere few feet away. He strode up to her and looked down, eyes slitted reptilian.

“You lost. Release Gray,” he ordered. Matilda chuckled as she flipped him the finger.

“Why would I do that? Just because you defeated me doesn’t mean I will grant Gray Fullbuster his freedom.” In a flash of red, a sword was pointed at Matilda’s throat. The downed mage looked up into the merciless gaze of Titania.

“You will do as he says, Matilda Mueller.” Natsu glanced over to where Wendy sat, watching their interrogation carefully.

“Hey Erza, is it ok to leave Gray with them?” he asked urgently. Without looking away from Matilda, she answered,

“Yes. Matilda’s magic is at basically zero so she has no way to control Gray right now.” Matilda scoffed.

“As expected of the great Erza Scarlet. Ruthless to the end.” Erza’s glare darkened.

“Release Gray,” she repeated.

“Let me kill the Dragon Slayer and I will.” Titania’s grip on the sword tightened as she neared the limit of her patience.

“Not an option.”

“Then I guess you can say goodbye to your precious ice mage.” Natsu crossed his arms.

“You might as well do it now. The Magic Council is probably on their way here right now. They’ll place you in anti-magic cuffs so any magic that you’re casting is immediately nullified. Which includes your hold on Gray.” Matilda defiantly turned her head to the side. Erza raised an eyebrow.

“You and Steven ar—were very alike.” Matilda continued to stare to the side. There was a long silence before she finally spoke.

“How did Steven die? Did you run him through with your sword? Or did you blast him to pieces with your magic?” Erza pursed her lips.

“He casted a spell that allowed the Leviathan to possess him.” Matilda’s head whipped back up.

“What?! And he still lost?!”

“That spell kills the user, or so he told me.” Matilda’s eyes widened. She clenched a fist and smashed it into the ground.

“That _fucking idiot_!”

“We’ve done as you asked. Now do what we’ve asked.” Matilda turned her head, incredulous.

“ _Really_? You expect me to give you back Gray Fullbuster when you’ve killed the last of my family?! That’s some nerve you all have.” The sword at her neck pressed down further, drawing a thin line of blood.

“Like Natsu said, you will be forced to either way. But there is one option that he forgot to mention. We could kill you before they get here.” Matilda’s eyes widened.

“That would make you no better than an assassin’s guild! You can’t kill me!” Natsu scoffed.

“Mages die all the time in battle. Plus, you’ve hurt my best friend, destroyed my guild and pit my family against each other. Besides, I told you that I don’t break promises. Remember what I said earlier?”

 

_“I’ll kill you. And when I do, you won’t be getting any mercy from me.”_

 

“Now who’s got nerve?”  Matilda scoffed and merely turned her head to the side in acceptance.

“Do what you must then, Dragon Slayer. My only regret is that I didn’t kill you first.” Natsu snorted but lit his fist aflame.

“Before that, answer a question for me.”

“And why would I do that?”

“You have no reason not to.” Matilda’s eyes widened as she barked out a laugh.

“Very well then Natsu Dragneel. Ask your question.”

“You said that Gray killed your family and that you smelled him. When was that?”

“7 years ago.”

“...You realise that Gray is 18 right?” Matilda rolled her eyes.

  
“Of course. I’m not an idiot, Dragon Slayer. It was his father who killed Hestidiel.” Erza shook her head.

“That’s even more impossible. Gray’s entire family is dead. They were killed in an attack by Deliora. _10_ years ago.” Matilda’s lavender eyes narrowed.

“I know what I smelled, Titania. It was unmistakably similar to Gray Fullbuster’s scent.”

* * *

 

The three were interrupted by the sound of many approaching footsteps. Everyone turned to where the guild’s door used to be. The fighters outside paused their battles as well.

“This is the Magic Council. We were called by the citizens of Magnolia after hearing an explosion,” Lahar announced. Then he turned back to his troops. “Capture every member of Fatal Falcon! Don’t let anyone escape!” he ordered as his soldiers charged forward with a solid,

“Yes sir!” The dark mages were instantly struck with fear and began to run, only to be caught by the army. Lahar marched into the space where the guild would have been.

“Titania. Salamander,” he acknowledged with a nod in both their directions. Erza let up on her sword as Matilda stood and laughed hollowly.

“It appears as though you’ve wasted your chance, Salamander.” She was just about to take a step forward towards the councilman obviously waiting when she felt a pain in her chest, where her heart was. Her last thought was that after all her hard work, she could not avenge her family.

* * *

 

Natsu watched in horror as a beam of yellow shot through Matilda’s chest, straight through her heart. He turned up to where the beam had come from. Standing up on a higher elevation than they were, stood a magic councilman with a gun. The magic councilman’s expression remained carefully neutral as he sent the weapon back into space. Erza’s eyes narrowed.

“Guns Magic like Bisca and Alzack...” she murmured. Lahar nodded at the guns mage and motioned for him to come down. Natsu turned from his spot on the floor angrily at Lahar.

“What was that for?!” he demanded. Lahar turned to him and pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose.

“You of all people should know, Natsu Dragneel. She is the master of a dark assassin’s guild. Of course she had to be eliminated right away. She was a dangerous woman.” Natsu clenched his fists.

“You still didn’t have to kill her!”

“Didn’t you promise the same thing?” the councilman accused. Natsu bit his lip before retorting,

“Even if I was going to kill her, I wouldn’t have used a sniper!” Lahar didn’t bother to deign Natsu’s outburst with an answer as he walked away undoubtedly to help round up more of the dark mages. Natsu and Erza only continued to stare blankly at the corpse in front of them.

 

A pained cry from a certain raven pulled them out of their stupor.

 

Natsu bolted over to where Wendy and Carla sat, scared to touch the raven lest they hurt him. Natsu watched as Gray’s deep blue eyes shot open and his hands flew up to the base of his neck where the magic circle was. Deep blue eyes stayed wide open and were bloodshot, as if having been opened for too long. The magic circle imprinted on Gray’s pupil dimmed in and out as did the tendrils on his body. Natsu shook him gently, not knowing what else to do.

“Gray! Are you with me? Hey!” The ice mage curled in on himself, huffing and gasping for breath. Natsu could only sit and watch as Gray battled with the foreign magic leaving his body.

 

The purple magic circle in Gray’s eye continued to fade in and out until it finally shone brightly and dissolved away in a shower of sparkles. The tendrils on Gray’s body did the same and Natsu looked on with relief. The last to go was the magic circle on the ice mage’s neck. When all traces of the Angel Slayer’s control were gone, Gray exhaustedly closed his eyes and fell into a deep slumber.

 

Natsu breathed a sigh of relief.

“I’ll leave him to you Wendy.” The younger Dragon Slayer nodded.

“Yes! I’ll take good care of him Natsu-san!” Natsu dragged dhimself up exhaustedly and walked over to where Erza still stood over Matilda’s body. As he trudged on, he took a good look at the state of the guild.

 

The guild’s walls no longer existed, nor did any pillars or tables. The battle between him and Matilda had destroyed everything, even the second floor and its stairs. Stone and wood littered the ground and had he been barefoot, he was sure that his feet would have been bleeding. He stopped in front of Erza. The redhead watched him with compassionate eyes.

 “Natsu...” she began. Just then, Lucy burst into the used to be guildhall.

“Natsu! What happened— Oh.” Lucy stared down at the dead Slayer, her chocolate brown eyes meeting a lavender lifeless gaze.

“The Magic Council did it,” Erza assured. She knew that Lucy would never believe that Natsu had killed anybody but she needed to make sure that there was no confusion lest any rumours fly. Lucy moved her gaze from Matilda to Natsu. The Dragon Slayer had been kneeling silently, pink bangs covering his eyes.

 

Without warning, he lifted Matilda’s body up and began to carry her bridal style. Wendy looked up in confusion.

“Natsu-san? What are you doing?”

“Giving her a proper burial,” was the rosette’s quiet answer.

* * *

 

Natsu stood in front of the grave marker he had made for Matilda. He had given her a spot in Cardia Cathedral, two rows down from Lisanna’s grave. He looked down at the tombstone.

“If you wanted to take revenge for your family... you shouldn’t have involved other people; killing to become stronger or attacking my guild. None of that helped you. Don’t get me wrong. I don’t forgive you for what you did. But no one deserves to die alone. I hope you’ve found Steven, wherever you two are.” With that, the Dragon Slayer turned from the grave and walked back to where his guild used to be.


	17. Recovery

Natsu grumbled as he carried an unconscious Gray Fullbuster on his back. The citizens of Magnolia were giving him strange looks as he passed them by, murmuring about the pissed off Dragon Slayer. How had he ended up in this situation again?

 

_“Natsu, you need to take care of Gray,” Erza ordered. The rosette spluttered in indignation._

_“Why me?! Can’t we just stick him in the guild infir— oh yeah.” That’s right. The guild was in shambles and that was an understatement. Even still, that did not deter Natsu from his argument.”Why can’t you or Lucy take him in?!” Erza crossed her arms._

_“I live at Fairy Hills. Wendy does as well so don’t even think about asking for her. Boys are not allowed. I also will not tolerate two young men sleeping in the same room as a young woman!”_

 

 Right. That was how.

 

* * *

 

Natsu grunted as he opened the door to his house. Happy had stayed behind at the guild for a little while longer, since Erza had ordered everyone but Natsu to help with cleanup and rebuilding the guild. Natsu set the unconscious teen on his back down gently on his hammock. The cloth swayed under Gray’s weight but had no trouble supporting him. Natsu grabbed a stool and sat down on it, his cheeks supported by his hands. He watched Gray’s even breaths and the steady rise and fall of his chest. It seemed like it had been ages since he had not seen the ice mage sleeping peacefully and not plagued with some nightmare or some side effect of Matilda’s magic. He sighed as he stood and flopped onto his couch. Time to take a nap.

* * *

 

Natsu woke up to a knock on the door. Rubbing his eyes, he noted that it was bright outside. He yawned. So he had slept through the entire night. He glanced at the corner of the couch quickly and was relieved to find Happy there, still sleeping quietly. Gray also still lay on his hammock, sound asleep. He scratched the back of his head as he opened the door, letting the morning sunlight flood into the room. He heard Happy turn in the bed, away from the glaring sunlight but kept his attention on the visitor in front of him.

“What’s up, Wendy, Carla? Why are you here so early?” he asked. The Exceed raised an eyebrow and Wendy timidly spoke up.

“Umm... Natsu-san, you know it’s 11 in the morning right?”

“Really? Huh, didn’t notice. Anyway, why are you guys here?” Wendy smiled brightly at him.

“Erza-san told me that Gray-san was here. I was going to heal him a little bit since I didn’t do much for him yesterday...” Happy flew in beside Natsu and hovered above the rosette’s shoulder.

“But Wendy, are you sure you’re ok? You used a lot of magic healing Juvia right?” Wendy nodded but patted Happy’s head in reassurance.

“I did but I’m fine now! I had a nice long rest last night and my magic power is ok now! I want to at least do a little bit for Gray-san...”

“Alright, alright. Stripper is in here,” Natsu said as he gestured for the two girls to enter his house.

“This is an interesting house you have,” Carla noted as she picked up one of the many job flyers that were lying scattered on the floor. Natsu nodded sheepishly.

“Yeah, it’s just a bunch of mementos I guess. I don’t ever want to forget anything I did at Fairy Tail.” Wendy smiled.

“I agree, Natsu-san. Now then, I’ll start healing Gray-san.”

* * *

 

Wendy wiped away the sweat on her forehead as she stood up, albeit tiredly. Natsu was quick to rush by her side in the event that she collapse.

“How’s Gray?” he asked.

“Gray-san should be fine. I’ve healed his broken leg and all the bruising. His magic core is fine, which I’m a little surprised about, but I’m not sure when Gray-san will wake up. I think it will be soon but I can’t say for sure.  I’m sorry I can’t do more!” Natsu patted her on the head. Wendy looked up to meet the bright grin that was signature to Fairy Tail’s Natsu Dragneel.

“Don’t worry about it Wendy! You’ve already done a lot!” Wendy’s eyes teared up slightly as she blinked away the tears of joy with a happy,

“Yeah!”

* * *

 

Wendy and Carla had left to grab lunch which left Natsu with Happy and an unconscious Gray. Natsu turned to his partner.

“Happy, how’s the guild?”

“Aye! Rebuilding was going alright last night! I think they’ve got the outer frame all built now!” the blue cat reported happily. Natsu pumped his fist in the air.

“Alright! That means that I can probably drop Popsicle Pants off in the infirmary sometime soon right?!” Happy put a paw to his chin.

“Natsu... I don’t think Erza will let you do that.” The image of the terrifying scarlet flashed in both of their minds, her eyes glowing yellow and fire rising up from behind her. Natsu instantly deflated and pressed his head against the wall, muttering under his breath. He glanced over to the sleeping ice mage on his hammock. Then he roughly turned away and made his way towards the door.

“Come on Happy, let’s go eat! I’m starved!”

“Aye sir!”

* * *

 

It was dark out before Natsu and Happy finally returned to their house in the forest. They had spent the whole day at the guild, helping out wherever they could. Of course, they were sorely reprimanded when Erza had found them there and not with Gray. The redhead’s wrath had destroyed some of the guild’s supplies and had set the construction a day behind. Of course, Erza had gone on another rampage when she had heard that. Natsu shivered at the memory then flinched at the pain the action induced. Sighing, Natsu opened the door to his house quietly. His eyes bugged when he saw what he was greeted with.

 

First of all, his house was spotless. Spotless! The cataclysmic mess that had occupied his home was gone! Job flyers were pinned up on his board and books were put away in their place. Hell, they were even organised by alphabetical order! Natsu and Happy shook their heads repeatedly and rubbed their eyes. This had to be a dream right?

“D-Did we get robbed or something?” Natsu asked uncertainly. Happy floated around and checked the entire room. There wasn’t a single thing missing. Apart from one.

“Uhh... Natsu?” the Exceed asked.

“Yeah?”

“...Do you see Gray anywhere?” Natsu snapped himself out of his dumbfoundedness and turned almost robotically towards the hammock. Sure enough, their hammock was empty. Natsu swore he could hear pin drop behind him.

 

Oh fuck, Erza was going to kill him.

 

In a flash, the two were out the door and running all over Magnolia trying to find the raven. They probably woke up half the city with their screaming Gray’s name. Natsu checked every store, every alley, hell he even checked the sewers. But he didn’t find Gray. Natsu wiped his brow as Happy floated above his shoulder.

“Natsu, what are we going to do if something happened to Gray?” Natsu frowned but walked down the street at a leisurely pace to catch his breath.

“Don’t worry Happy, we’ll find him.”

“Find who?”

 

Natsu and Happy’s backs straightened as is shocked and turned robotically to face none other than Erza Scarlet. The redhead was wearing normal clothes and was looking at them with a curious expression. That didn’t make her any less threatening though. Natsu and Happy immediately jumped away, sweating nervously and praying that Erza couldn’t see it.

“E-Erza! What are you doing out here so late?” Natsu asked.

“I saw the full moon out and I thought it would be nice to take a stroll. That doesn’t answer my question though, Natsu. Who are you looking for?” Happy gulped and grabbed onto the back of Natsu’s vest, intending on flying them away, only to realise that it would make things worse because Erza would know for sure that something was wrong if they ran.

“Natsu? What’s wrong?” Erza asked. Natsu scratched the back of his head and avoided Erza’s gaze.

“Well... you see... We’re looking for—”

“Natsu? Erza? What are you guys doing here so late?” Natsu and Happy’s heads whipped towards the direction of the newcomer’s voice and almost wept tears of joy, which Natsu would deny later, when they saw Gray walking towards them in all his shirtless glory.

“Gray? You’re already walking around?” Erza questioned. The underlying worry in her tone was obvious. Gray gave her his signature grin.

“Stuff like this can’t keep me down for long, Erza, you know that.” Erza closed her eyes and laughed.

“I suppose so. Glad to see you back to normal.” Gray turned to Natsu and Happy who were glaring at him, the latter with tears in his eyes. Gray laughed awkwardly.

“I’ll see you later Erza. Natsu, Happy and I need to talk. I’ll swing by the guild tomorrow.” Erza nodded and bade the boys farewell. Natsu and Happy breathed out sighs of relief. Whew, saved. Then Natsu turned to Gray and took a deep breath.

“What were you thinking?!” the Dragon Slayer yelled, causing many passersby to plug their ears. Even Gray and Happy covered their ears with their hands. “Do you have any idea how worried we were?! You could’ve left a note or something, you bastard!” Gray massaged his temples.

“Natsu, this is hardly the time or place. Let’s go back to your house and then we’ll talk.” Natsu grumbled but turned and stomped his way back to where his house was. Gray laughed at the childish action.

“Same old Flame Brain.”

* * *

 

The door to the house slammed close as Natsu sat himself down on his couch angrily, arms crossed obviously attempting to contain his anger but failing. Gray sighed.

“Alright so here’s what happened. I woke up at around 4 in the afternoon. Of course, you and Happy weren’t there and I wasn’t sure where I was at first. Then I saw the mess and realised that I was at your house. I was the one who cleaned it for you by the way. You’re welcome,” Gray said, a smug grin plastered across his face. Natsu fumed at the look.

“Yeah, well I never asked you to, bastard!” Gray rolled his eyes and continued his story.

“Anyway, after that, I went back home to eat and take a shower. I would’ve left a note for you, if there were any paper or pencils,” he accused. Natsu simply looked away, pretending that he hadn’t heard that.

“How do you feel?” he asked instead. Gray rolled his shoulders back and stretched.

“I feel fine. It’s all over right?” Natsu nodded. Gray sighed and flopped down on the rug. “Thank god that’s all over with.” Natsu got up and climbed into his hammock. Happy hovered above Gray and landed on his chest.

“Gray, do you remember everything that happened?” Happy asked. Natsu caught Gray’s flinch out of the corner of his eye. Gray reached up and petted Happy on the head.

“Yeah, I do,” he answered quietly. Happy was about to say more when he saw Natsu shake his head. Gray turned to the hammock.

“Hey, Natsu. Can I sleep over? I don’t want to go back outside.” Natsu snorted.

“Get over it Ice Princess. You aren’t afraid of the cold are you?”

“Like hell! I’m just tired and don’t feel like walking. Besides, you owe me for your house.”

“I didn’t even ask you to clean it!”

“Well I did so the least you could do is be grateful you bastard!”

“Fine! You can have the couch!”

“Stingy Flame Brain! You could at least give your guest the hammock!” The two fought like that for a good ten minutes before Natsu finally conceded the hammock to Gray. Grumbling, he turned on his side with Happy curled up next to his head. There was a long silence before Natsu finally spoke.

“Good night, Stripper.”

“Good night Ash for Brains.”

 

* * *

 

The guild was in a festive mood the next morning when Gray walked onto the construction site. Lucy was giving the raven a hug faster than he could blink.

“Gray! I’m so glad you’re ok!” Gray laughed heartily and returned her embrace.

“Same here, Lucy.” While he was chatting with the rest of his guild mates, he was very aware of the lack of a stare directed at him. He sighed and cast his gaze down. Wendy approached him.

“Umm... Gray-san?” The raven quickly looked up and put on the best smile he could muster.

“Ah, Wendy. Thank you for healing me. What did you need?” Wendy frantically waved her hands in front of her.

“Oh no, that was nothing! You don’t have to thank me, Gray-san. Umm... I just want to tell you that if you’re looking for Juvia-san that she’s near the back of the guild.” Gray didn’t know how the little healer had been able to read him so easily, but nonetheless he thanked her and headed towards the back of the guild.

 

The area was deserted when Gray arrived. He looked around carefully. If Wendy had seen Juvia here then in all likelihood, Juvia was indeed around here somewhere. He was about to search in between piles of wood when a stack of bricks toppled to the ground, revealing a flustered bluenette.

“Ah... Gray-sama,” Juvia greeted, albeit a little forced. Gray looked away guiltily. He still remembered every vivid detail of slitting Juvia’s throat.

“Hi Juvia,” he returned. There was a long silence in between the two before Gray finally gained the courage to speak. “Umm Juvia, I’m sorry!” The bluenette turned to her love with teary eyes. Gray gulped. If there was one thing he couldn’t take it was crying women.

“Juvia understands. Gray-sama didn’t mean to. He was under the control of that Angel Slayer.”

“Even so...”

“Gray-sama,” Juvia said sternly. “Juvia will not have Gray-sama blaming him for something that he could not control. If Gray-sama really wants to make it up to Juvia...” Gray leaned in forward, listening carefully to what Juvia was about to say. Suddenly, the water mage leapt forward, lips scrunched up together.

“Then give Juvia a kiss!” she shouted dreamily. Gray panicked and quickly jumped to the side.

“Juvia!” The bluenette pouted and attempted to hug the raven, with him continuously evading her attempts. The rest of Team Natsu must have heard the commotion because when Gray spared a glance away from Juvia, the rest of his team was standing there, amused expressions on their faces.

“You guys...” He was about to open his mouth and apologise when Erza held up her armoured hand.

“You don’t need to apologise for a thing Gray. Like Juvia said, it wasn’t your fault.” Gray frowned. He would never believe that. Happy flew up to the raven and perched on his head.

“Gray we’re all really happy that you’re back to normal! So don’t look so sad,” the Exceed begged. Gray’s eyes widened. Then he tilted his head down so that his bangs covered his eyes as he smiled. He was truly blessed to have such a wonderful family.

“That aside, I’m the one who beat her! So that makes me stronger than you!” Natsu boasted. Gray felt a familiar fire well up inside him and he grinned at the feeling. It seemed as if it had been an eternity since he had felt like this.

“Yeah? Well I beat her the first time! I’m stronger Flame Brain!”

“Like hell!”

“Want to fight?!”

“Bring it on!” The onlookers laughed and watched as the two started one of their infamous brawls, thankfully a fair distance away from the guild’s framework. Gray smiled at the relaxing atmosphere and knew that everyone else was happy too. In the end, he had worried over nothing. It didn’t matter who they were up against or how powerful their magic was. They would overcome their obstacles just like they had Matilda. After all, that’s what made them Fairy Tail.

**Author's Note:**

> Hey there! I'm EternalFlame401 from FFN. It's not my first fic that I've ever written, but hopefully it's not too bad. No pairings in this story. Sorry guys!


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